Quince
Cydonia, “the apple of Cydon”
- Known today as
- Cydonia oblonga.
- Kind
- Plant, in 1 older authority
- Constituents
- pectin, mucilage, amygdalin, and 1 more
- Earliest authority here
- Plutarch (c. AD 46–after 119)
- Qualities
- Cold and dry, and binding (Galenic tradition). What the degrees mean
- In other databases
- Plants of the World Online search · GBIF search · Wikidata search
Quince: what was it used for?
Binding and cordial: quince jelly and paste to stay fluxes and vomiting and to comfort the stomach.
Quince: what does modern science say?
Rich in pectin; a gentle food for an upset stomach.
Pharmacognosy & Toxicology
- Constituents
- Mechanism
- The pectin and tannins bind a loose stool, which is the quince jelly for fluxes; the seed mucilage, quince gum, soothes the throat and was once the hair-setting lotion. A quince syrup matched the drug in a trial of reflux in children (Zohalinezhad, 2015).
- Toxic dose
- A food; the seeds in quantity release cyanide.
- Standing
- A food; the seed mucilage is in the Iranian traditional pharmacopoeia.
- Zohalinezhad, M. E., et al. (2015). “Effects of quince syrup on clinical symptoms of children with symptomatic gastroesophageal reflux disease: a double-blind randomized controlled clinical trial.” Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice 21. Verified against its record · doi:10.1016/j.ctcp.2015.09.005
The abstract of each source, beneath its citation. For Club members. About the Club or sign in.
Constituent names open the compound’s record at PubChem, and “ChEMBL” beside a name opens its record at ChEMBL, the European Bioinformatics Institute’s database of bioactive molecules. Where a mechanism line was checked against ChEMBL (ChEMBL 37, read 1 October 2026), the check is shown with the measured value and its source paper, or says plainly that nothing has been measured. Doses are as the references give them, for description only; this is not medical advice. Each source carries the result of its check against Crossref, PubMed, or the authority’s page: see Verification.
Quince: what lore surrounds it?
Marmalade was first made of quinces: the word comes from the Portuguese marmelo.
Some classicists have proposed the quince, not the modern apple, as the golden apple of Greek myth, the fruit of the Judgement of Paris and of the garden of the Hesperides, since the apple familiar today came late to the Mediterranean. It is one candidate among several, with the citron and the orange, and the question remains open.
Quince: what did the older authorities say?
- Plutarch
- Says Solon’s law bade an Athenian bride eat a quince before entering the bridal chamber.
Sources
- Plutarch, Life of Solon. Book, seen in reviews
Verification
- Checked
- October 1, 2026
- Passes
- Every sentence read against its sources, in the pass over the remaining 343 entries
- The Standing line checked against the authority it names (EMA, WHO, FDA, CITES, Commission E)
- Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
- Sources
- 2 cited: 1 verified against its record, 1 book, seen in reviews. 1 with the abstract on file.
- Corrections
- None were needed.
What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.
Cite This Entry
Version 1 · first published September 25, 2026
- Chicago
“Quince.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified September 25, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/quince.
- MLA
“Quince.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 25 Sept. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/quince. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
- APA
Quince. (2026, September 25). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/quince
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See Also
Sharing mucilage, amygdalin
Polygonatum multiflorum · Plantago major · Viola odorata · Verbascum thapsus · Prunus spinosa
Also in Plutarch
Drawing on the same sources: Plutarch
Of the same qualities: cold and dry
Rose · Opium poppy · Sandalwood · Endive · Vinegar · Coral, red · what the degrees mean →
Nearby in the alphabet
Radish (Raphanus sativus (now classed by Kew as Raphanus raphanistrum subsp) · Quicksilver (and its salts such as calomel and corrosive sublimate) · Ragwort (Jacobaea vulgaris (syn) · Purslane (a succulent, creeping herb of warm gardens) · Raisins (Dried grapes) · Puffball (White balls that ripen into a cloud of brown spores) · Ramps (the wild leek of the hardwood forests of the Great Lakes and the East) · The prologue of John
Historical description, not medical advice.