Around this time of year, some people keep a bowl of quinces in a warm room to release their fragrant, fruity-rose aroma. Richard Mabey, who first fired imaginations on wild food’s potential in his 1972 book Food for Free, carries a quince in his car “as a natural perfume”.

Harder than a turnip, quince is greatly underrated in Britain. A fresh one is also sour — until it’s cooked.

Though it comes from warmer climates, a quince tree is still frost-hardy and not impossible to grow here. John Reid, author of Scotland’s first gardening book The Scots Gardener (1683), grew them. Early British cookbooks had many recipes. Eliza Acton (1845), made quince jelly and custard; a little cooked quince was added to apple tarts.

All small grocery stores in Spain stock rust-red dulce de membrillo (quince jam) which is eaten with cheese. Quince is added to turmeric-flavoured meat stews in the Middle East. Kathryn Hawkins, who lives in Perthshire, captures this oriental mood with a recipe for Fragrant Slow Baked Quince in her book Shop Local, Eat Well; the peeled slices are sweetened with honey and flavoured with saffron and vanilla.

Meanwhile, Mabey’s latest book The Full English Cassoulet, continues his passion for food-for-free with useful recipes for making-do in the kitchen.

The Full English Cassoulet, Richard Mabey, Chatto, £16.99; Shop Local, Eat Well, Kathryn Hawkins, New Holland, £9.99

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