In 1974, Howard Clarke bought a small piece of land in Terra Bella, California. A fruit was already growing on it. Everyone told him to doze it and put in oranges.

He saw something nobody else did.

Howard spent the next 50 years proving that right. He built one of the largest commercial quince operations in the United States, shipping across the country and into Canada. He farmed until his body wouldn’t let him, guiding his son-in-law through the orchard by phone from a nursing home in his final season.

We are his family. We made him a promise. And we are keeping it.

California Quince is the next chapter of Howard’s story. The same 30 acres. The same single farm origin, hand harvested and fully traceable. Now entering the cosmetic ingredient market as a clinically studied botanical extract, processed by MeL-Co, a family-owned California botanical extract manufacturer with over 33 years of experience.

One farm. Fifty years. A fruit the formulation world is only now discovering.