Patience, patience, patience is the word that springs to mind when I think about this wonderful fruit. We have an old quince tree in our garden which is a delight to look at and also to smell. Better still, when you cook with it, the house is filled with the most delightful aroma. Even better is the taste. Not many people I know use quince because it must be cooked and cooked for a long time. A great candidate for slow food festivals or slow cooking!
The quince tree that we have is a ‘C.oblonga lusitanica’ as our quince are more oblong shaped. The quince are ready to be picked now because the fruit have turned to bright yellow and you can smell a beautiful scent. You will note on this photo that the quince have a grey fur on them. This is normal but of course, you must wash this off before any preparation for cooking.
This recipe is a favourite of ours and was developed by Maggie Beer. It is simple but as I said, patience is the key.
Six quinces, 1.5 litres of water, 4 cups of sugar and the juice of three lemons. Put the quinces, sugar and water in a heavy saucepan. Rapidly boil for half an hour then reduce heat and simmer for up to five hours. Turn the fruit about four times and only add the lemon juice at the very end. We serve them with whipped cream. They turn an incredible deep red colour!
This season I am going to try and make homemade quince paste but I will need to set aside about 8 hours for this one. Quince paste served with Manchego cheese from the Erlangen Cheese shop in the Friederichstrasse is simply delectable!
I wish I was there to try it!
By: Debra Kolkka on October 11, 2010
at 6:20 pm
When I make the quince paste, I will send you some. It stores for years!
By: Moira Drexler on October 11, 2010
at 6:56 pm
can you cook them in pressure cooker (Schnellkochtopf)???
By: Alka on October 12, 2010
at 7:41 pm
Hallo Alka,
Doch schon aber ich habe das nicht gemacht. Ich denke 15 Minuten hoch aber dann wurde ich den Haut weg schneiden. Und ich weis es nicht ob diese aroma kommt wie bei Slow Cooking.
Soll ich dir eine Tüte schenken wenn wir treffen?
liebe grüsse, Moira
By: Moira Drexler on October 12, 2010
at 8:14 pm
I think we will meet on Oct 20 by Monika’s birthday!!
By: Alka on October 14, 2010
at 8:27 pm