Quince

THEMATIC NETWORK on “Characterization and Functional and Safety Evaluation of Fruit Bioactive Phytochemicals from Iberian American Regions for Food Ingredients”The quince tree is native to a wide area that includes Caucasus, Transcaucasia and Central Asia (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan). Nowadays, there are still wild quince plants in Dagestan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenia and Iran (Zhukovsky, 1964; Postman, 2012). During ancient times, quince spread from its centre of origin to the east, to the region of the Himalaya Mountains, and has been cultivated for thousands of years in central Asia and in the Middle East. It was also grown on the islands of ancient Greece. The name "Cydonia" was assigned to the quince probably due to the name of an ancient city-state ("Cydonia" or "KYDONIA") of Crete, where the quince was abundantly grown in the 1st century BC. The Romans cultivated quince on a large scale and studied the plant, having described different cultivars. Quince is naturalized throughout the Mediterranean, temperate regions of Asia and southern and central regions of Europe. It is currently cultivated in many European countries (up to Scotland and Norway), North and South Africa, North and South America, Australia and Oceania. It is the sole member of the genus Cydonia, but various subspecies and forms have been described (Lobachev and Korovina, 1981)