coing, not poire

an excerpt from my husband’s instagram post says it all:

“I once found one of these beneath a tree in my neighbor’s orchard. I brought the enormous pear home to my family. What enormous pears they grow in France, I said. Then I put the gigantic pear on the terrace table and forgot about it for several weeks, during which time it did not soften, did not change color, and did not rot. I admired the heartiness of this feisty pear every time I passed it on the way to do laundry or grill dinner. Then one day I saw an identical enormous pear at the market, but it was labeled “coing” not “poire,” because, of course, the supernatural pear on my table was actually a very average quince.”

quince (coing)