Quince-cidence.

Scrog

The recreated medieval orchard planted in the grounds of our ruined 14^th century priory has started to mature. So far,the mulberry and  the medlar have remained barren but the geans and scrogs.. cherries and crab apples to anglophones...have born fruit...and so have the quinces.

Our word marmalade comes from the Portuguese marmelada, a quince jam.

Golden and aromatic, they were cultivated long before the apple.

It may be that references to apples in legends really apply to the quince... the apple in the garden of Eden, the apples in Solomon's Song of Songs, the Golden Apples of the Hesperides.

In Greek mythology, having been excluded by Zeus from a wedding, Eris, the goddess of discord, rolled such a golden apple among the guests. It was claimed by three of the guests, Hera, Athena and Aphrodite. Zeus asked the mortal Paris to decide who should have it. In the fateful Judgement of Paris, each goddess tried to bribe him and Aphrodite offered him the most beautiful woman in the world... Helen, wife of Menelaus, the Greek king.   Paris gave Aphrodite the golden apple and took Helen back to Troy. This provoked the Trojan War.

Only Heracles of the twelve labours and Perseus, slayer of Medusa, managed to get one of these prized fruit guarded, as they were, by nymphs and a dragon

 Perseus was helped by the nymphs of the Hesperides to kill the Gorgon. He saved Andromeda despite her mother Cassioipea's perfidy and can be seen in the Northern sky with his bride and her parents and the winged horse, Pegasus, that sprang from Medusa's severed neck. The red star, Algol still glares as the Gorgon's eye.

 I've just downloaded an app for my I-pod that shows the constellations overhead. A great boon to the star-gazer.

 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Perseus_%28constellation%29#mediaviewer/File:Perseus.gif

Having made a few jars of quince jelly, an ideal accompaniment to venison, I wondered if we had captured the myths. Certainly, the pan boiled over in the process, cascading boiling hot, sticky liquor everywhere.
 Was Medusa still spitting with fury? Was the rage of the Trojan's at being tricked erupting?

The jelly still came out clear and sweet. We must have defeated the ghosts.