A couple of weeks ago, I went to Open Garden Project, a weekly garden exchange. I love the concept. I brought a couple of jars of homemade pickles (one of the jars was that of the vinegar mother) and came home with quince fruit.
Ah Quince, the mystical fruit.
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| Cored whole quince |
The woman who brought them to trade, had a full tree at home but did not know what to do with them. I was happy to take them off her hands and work on the delicacies my mom used to make for us. It's amazing how much you get out of the (whole) fruit and cannot bear keeping the following recipes from you;)
QUINCE JELLY
- Wash and quarter the entire quince (I used 4 this time) Do not peel or core
- Cover with water generously (the width of a couple fingers as my mom would say)
- Cook until tender
- Stain over a bowl and let stand for 12 hours
- Weigh the strained juice and mix with equal amounts of sugar (putting aside the cooked quince for the recipe below)
- Add the juice of a lemon (optional)
- Cook until it gels
- Pour into sterilized jars (my four quince yielded the 2 jars pictured).
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| Strained cooked quince |
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| Quince jelly |
QUINCE PASTE
- Remove and compost the seeds from the above cooked quince
- Weigh the cooked quince and mix with equal amounts of sugar
- Blend using a hand blender
- Cook until thick (scraping the bottom of your pan will leave a line in the paste)
- Spread into plates (I used our picnic plates because they are deeper than my everyday ones)
- Let dry for about a week, flipping them a couple of times
- Cut and enjoy with Pecorino style cheese or roll in sugarfor a sweet treat
- Store in air-tight containers.
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| Quince paste drying |
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| Quince Paste rolled in sugar |
Both make great presents.
What seasonal delicacy are you working on?
I recently made a quince rose hip jelly (we grow both here) and we used the mash to stuff a roast duck. Delicious! I'll have to try the paste next time.
ReplyDeletewe recently made apple butter in the crockpot (yum!) and have been making pumpkin soup. Love the flavors of autumn!
ReplyDeleteThrilled to see you having fun with quince recipes. I also like quince brandy, (roughly chop quinces, fill large jar to 3/4 full, add some star anise, a cinnamon stick, sugar to coat, shake then top up with cheap brandy. Leave for at least 3 months before straining & drinking) The strained quince is good roasted, peeled & cored, then chop finely & add to homemade sweet mincemeat to make mince pies...
ReplyDeleteI haven't ever heard of quince, but that jelly has an amazing color and the paste looks yummy! I might have to track some down and try those two!
ReplyDeleteHave recently made applesauce, pluot ( a cross between an apricot and a plum) jelly. also mixed the Pluot pulp with strawberries for one batch, cherries for another batch and mixed berries for a third batch of jelly.
ReplyDeleteNext i want to try my hand at making apple cider with honey crisp apples :)
I've just made quince jelly and then used the leftover pulp to make a sort of Bakewell tart. Not sure if you have them in the US...
ReplyDeleteI put the pulp through a food mill, sweetened it and used it in a pastry case, topped with frangipane. Delicious!
And lots of pickles and jams.
Oven Applesauce
ReplyDeleteCore and chop 5 apples.
Add a small handful of brown sugar and a dash or 2 of cinnamon. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 in a 9 inch oven dish.
Much easier than pie and delish! A mix of tart and sweet seasonal apples is the best!
our neighbor gifted us with 80 persimmons that are not yet ripe, but when they are we hope to make persimmon butter/jam. already made fig jam and applesauce which we canned for winter.
ReplyDeleteDue to the "everything's a month late" weather cycle we had in the Pacific NW, I'm busy buying the last of locally grown blackberries and strawberries and freezing them. I also frying up the last of my home grown green tomatoes and eating *tons* of salad greens from the backyard!
ReplyDeleteYum, yum, yum. Your quince paste rolled in sugar looks so good! Over here in Portugal we have been eating quince too-it's a seasonal delicacy. I love to bake them in the oven with sugar and spice. My hubby likes to stew them. None left on our tree. Will have to wait until next year. Still have some quince jam a friend made us in the fridge...we have had an unusually hot early autumn so we have a big crop of late basil. I absolutely love pesto so there is a lot of green basil pesto around!
ReplyDeleteBest wishes
I want to try your recipes. Do you dry the paste on the counter? And does it stick to the plate when you try to flip it? Oh, and when you say to let it rest for 12 hours (in the first recipe), do you mean to let it strain for 12 hours or just to "rest" the juice for that long? Do you rest it in the fridge or on the counter? We've brought home some fruit flies from the grocery store so I'll have to use a food tent if you do, in fact, rest the jelly and dry the paste on the counter. Thanks for the great ideas!
ReplyDeleteI'm collecting apples to dry in slices, and making a delicious Irish Halloween fruitcake called barnbrack:
ReplyDelete2 1/2 cups chopped dried mixed fruit
1 1/2 cups hot brewed tea
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup lemon marmalade
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
Method
Soak the dried fruit in the hot tea for 2 hours, then drain and gently squeeze out excess tea.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9 inch Bundt pan. Stir together the flour cinnamon, nutmeg, and baking soda; set aside.
Beat the egg, sugar, marmalade, orange zest, and tea-soaked fruit until well combined. Gently fold in the flour until just combined, then pour into the prepared Bundt pan.
Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour or until the top of the cake springs back when lightly pressed. Allow to cool in the pan for 2 hours before removing. Continue to cool to room temperature on a wire rack.
I haven't looked very hard for lemon marmalade so use lemon curd.
I love quince, such a exotic fruit. Very aromatic too. When it's in the stores, markets, I pick up on the smell right away - kind of a vanilla, apple,pear scent. Beautiful. Thanks for the recipes. I'm sure to use at least one of them.
ReplyDeleteWe used dolgo crab apples to make applesauce and our kids love it. They prefer it over regular applesauce. It is a pretty red color and it has a bit of a tart taste to it. It is so yummy, but takes time to make since they are small.
ReplyDeletePut up 30 quarts of dill pickles and dilly beans, 7 quarts of tomato sauce and 12 pints of raspberry jam. Also froze about 50 lbs of green beans, peas, carrots and squash. Half a laundry basket of onions drying in the garage and potatoes left to dig....all from our garden. Next a big bag of apples from a friend to can. I highly recommend "Canning and Preserving for Dummies". Very straightforward and easy to follow instructions. Really helped me a lot.
ReplyDeleteQuince! Very Edward Lear. Can it be eaten raw?
ReplyDeleteOh Bea, I'm coming to your house! I LOVE quince jelly! I'll swap you a jar of my cumquat marmalade. (Cumquat = the queen of marmalades.)
ReplyDeleteWe always make tomato sauce, marmalade and apricot jam from my parents' tree; last year we brined our own olives as well (foraged them from a local park!). Preserving gives you such a sense of self-sufficiency.
Everyone is putting up so much great food, but I just spent the morning getting my garden beds ready for winter. That means pulling up all the summer plants, stirring up the soil, mixing in compost and planting winter vegetables. Does anyone else do this?
ReplyDeleteI have not heard of this as a paste. It looks delicious. I've recently made applesauce and apple butter... Delicious as well. Thank you for the recipes!
ReplyDeleteMade 1 1/2 litres of raspberry gin last month. I wanted to make sloe gin but could nt get the sloes. I had left over gin so added a lb of raspberries, 1lb sugar in a big jar, shake for a month and keep for three months - then strain and pour back into the glass gin bottle - lovely on a cold winters night. Eat the raspberries over some icecream. No waste. Made english Christmas puddings, mincemeat and cake, no waste again - will compost the parcement paper,hope it rots, cake pans and pudding basins used from year to year. String in compost.
ReplyDeleteMy MIL has a quince tree in the UK - she says not to wash the fuzz off the quinces as doing so detracts from the flavor.
Ha...too funny. I named my blog after the quince because of its gorgeous shade of green, uniqueness and history. I was born in Turkey where they have an abundance of quince and use them not only to eat, but to freshen up their homes as the aroma is divine. I've yet to see them here in DC, so you are so lucky! I'm thinking I need to plant a quince tree in my back yard. Thanks for sharing the recipes!
ReplyDeleteI looooove "membrillos" we make ate with it in Mexico all the time. This fruit has he highest content of pectin among all fruits! So good for your nails and hair! Great article!
ReplyDeleteThanks to all of you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteLizzie: I do the same with grapes, a mix of hard alcohol (leftovers,"fonds de bouteilles"), and spices. A french tradition. It always intrigues my guests and the strength of the marinated grapes always surprises them. Your rasberry gin sounds amazing. Will have to give that a try when I find rapsberries at the farmer's market, if I can use them before my kids get to them;)
KensHappyWife:
Do you dry the paste on the counter? on a shelf.
Does it stick to the plate when you try to flip it? not really because I use a spatula and the first flip has soft paste underneath. When you say to let it rest for 12 hours (in the first recipe), do you mean to let it strain for 12 hours or just to "rest" the juice for that long? strain.
Do you rest it in the fridge or on the counter? on the counter.
Your tent will be perfect.
Vanessa: I love kumquats! Will be looking for those soon, they are another one of those short term seasonal treats!
And Penni!: Drooling over your bounty!
In Haute-Savoie, here my mother lives, it's the full chestnut season, so I make chestnut jam, roasted chestnut, chestnut liqueur (the chestnut used here will in turn be used for making jam).
ReplyDeleteI can never get enough potimarron, so this year I tried preserving it as jam. It's delicious, and tastes a bit like chestnut. Can you find it in the States?
And quince, of course. It's delicous with stewed apples. I'm also going to give a try at the quince jelly this year.
*where my mother lives
ReplyDeleteI plan to go collect all the chestnuts going to waste on the ground in my neighborhood today. There are trees everywhere in Portland OR. Please share your jam recipe Audrey!
ReplyDeleteYet another use for quince (via apartmenttherapy.com) natural room fragrance! http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/sf/tabletop/step-one-place-quince-in-bowl-thats-it-158817
ReplyDeleteFor us, it's all about apples! I love making and freezing applesauce after Ida Reds come in season (pretty soon!). I have never had quince, but not I am definitely intrigued...
ReplyDeleteI am making Honeyed Pear Butter with pears from the last few weeks of the season here in Memphis. it's a new recipe that uses the crock pot. I will then can it for use this winter, along with the strawberry and peach jam I made earlier this summer. Saving the pear peels and cores for the worm bin I hope to start within the next week or two!
ReplyDelete>Anonymous: Yay for the wild chestnut-picking! Here comes my recipe :)
ReplyDeleteRemove the first skin of your chestnuts, than boil them until tender. This way, you can remove the second skin more easily. Keep the water.
Use a vegetable mill to reduce the chestnuts to a smooth paste.
Weigh and add roughly 2/3 of the chestnuts' weight in sugar.
Cook your chestnuts and sugar in the water for approx. 10-15 minutes, until you have a thickish paste. I like adding a vanilla stick at this stage.
Remove the vanilla stick and put into jars. Sterilize as usual.
Best with plain yoghurt or toasted sweet bread :)
Hi, I found your blog via googling zero waste lifestyle, after I saw your clip on Yahoo; I didn't know such a thing as yours, so I'm very impressed how you do this as a lifestyle, thanks for all the information, I will read as much as I can to see how we can apply it in our household. Have a good week!
ReplyDeleteMaureen
I am collecting boxes to give home made treats - chocolate truffles and candied citrus - I prepared an Oktoberfest dinner which was fun.
ReplyDeleteI adore Quince.
pve
How fun, the first time I heard of "coing" was when a Béatrice served me confiture de coing in her Loire valley home. From your pictures though, it took me quite a while to realize that quince is the very same fruit that we don't eat where I live and that we had so very hard to track down a translation for back when I first tasted it.
ReplyDeleteI've never tried quince...thanks for this post! keep the posts coming, Bea; I'm still keeping my vow to declutter one item each time I read one of your posts. thanks for helping me to minimalize!
ReplyDeleteOur local greengrocer had some amazing organic quince on offer this week so I spent a happy morning making both the jelly and candies today! They both look amazing and I like the method for the making the jelly: usually I just cook everything together then press the juice through a muslin. I'm off to try and quince and apple sauce recipe next... Thanks Bea!
ReplyDeleteI just made this jelly (following your recipe) and it turned out fantastic. Working on the paste now and looking forward to trying it when it dries. We had never had quince before. Fun to try something new :)
ReplyDeleteI love quince. My grandmother made quince jelly and jam every fall. I did, too, until I found Simply Quince, a cookbook devoted to cooking with quince! Now I make quince salsa and quince scones all fall. So yummy and pretty, too.
ReplyDelete