Know and Love Quinces
Public demand leads me to add a section on our long term work to popularise the Quince.
Quince ‘Vranja’ 2007
Cydonia oblonga is what we are talking about here, a ramshackle rambling kind of tree with large white flowers (with typical form of the Rosaceae) in the spring and yellow fruit look a little like apples, but aren’t. The fruits are very firm in their flesh and are said to be better picked after the first frost. Popular in Portugal they are hardy well up north (we are at the same latitude as Moscow and Alaska) and make some great dishes when processed. Raw they are not at all palatable.
I visited a house locally recentrly where they complained their quinces were not growing very fast. The bush they were referring to is Chaenomeles japonica, also known as ‘ornamental quince’. The fruits of which are small yellow and aromatic. They can also be processed for jellies etc. but are quite distinct. Chaenomeles japonica has bright red flowers in the spring. I have a relative Chaenomeles cathayensis which has larger fruit, which was given me by that wonderful man Clive Simms, who has done so much to advance the knowledge of propagataion and preserving and discovering unusual fruiting plants in the UK.
SOME QUINCE RECIPES (Many thanks to Wendi for her help!)
POACHED QUINCES
Quinces are a miraculous fruit, transformed by slow cooking from an impenetrable yellow cricket ball into a soft and perfumed sunset.
Serves 4-8, depending on greed
4 quinces, peeled and quartered
Juice of 1 lemon
600g caster sugar
1 cinnamon stick
2 cloves
1 bay leaf 1 lemon, quartered
Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas Mark 2. Place the quince quarters in a bowl of water with the lemon juice to stop them turning brown.
Put the sugar and 1 litre of water into a large, lidded ovenproof dish that’s big enough to take all the quince quarters in a single layer. Add the spices, bay leaf and lemon quarters, and bring to the boil, stirring to help the sugar dissolve. Remove the quince quarters from the bowl of water. Drop into the sugar syrup and cover with a sheet of greaseproof paper (this helps them to cook as they bob to the surface of the liquid). Put the lid on and place in the oven. Cook for 2-2½ hours, turning halfway through, until the pieces of fruit are soft and a deep shade of red. Allow to cool in the poaching juice.
Take to the table in a bowl with some of the liquid and spices – people can pick around the seedy core themselves. Crème fraîche, thick cream or yoghurt is all you need with it. I also like to drain the odd slice and have it with a hunk of cheese.
FIVE GOOD THINGS TO DO WITH QUINCE SYRUP
You’ll have lots of wonderfully fragrant juice left over from poaching the quinces. Don’t waste it.
— Mix it half and half with some vodka or gin and drink over ice as a sweet liqueur, or add a splash to a martini
— Reduce it down by boiling and use to glaze apple tarts
— Drizzle it over vanilla ice cream
— Freeze it, then whisk and freeze again to make a simple, slightly sticky sorbet
— Use it to add perfume to the filling of apple crumbles and pies
Poached quinces in a clove-and-cinnamon-scented syrup are served at Rosh Hashanah and to break the fast at Yom Kippur. In this version, the quinces are left unpeeled for the preliminary cooking in water, and then peeled and cooked in syrup. In La cucina livornese, Pia Bedarida recommends peeling the quinces, letting them rest to take on a reddish brown color as they oxidize, and then cooking them in syrup. Other cooks peel the quinces and cook them immediately, but suggest saving the peels and seeds and cooking them along with the sliced quinces. Still another recipe uses wine instead of water.
Servings: Makes 6 servings.
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Ingredients
2 pounds quinces
For the syrup:
2 cups sugar
1 cup water, or as needed
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
2 whole cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
Preparation
In a large saucepan, combine the quinces with water to cover. Bring to a boil over high heat and cook, uncovered, until barely tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain the quinces and, when cool enough to handle, peel, halve, core, and cut into slices.
To make the syrup: In a saucepan large enough to accommodate the sliced quinces, combine the sugar, 1 cup water, cloves, and cinnamon sticks. Place over medium heat and bring to a simmer, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the quinces and additional water if needed to cover. Simmer for 5 minutes. Then, over the course of 12 hours, bring the quince slices to a boil in the syrup 3 times. boiling them for 5 minutes each time. This helps to bring up the rich red color of the fruit and allows them to absorb the syrup over time.
Transfer to a serving dish and refrigerate. Serve chilled.
QUINCE PASTE
Let your quinces be full ripe, boil them till they are quite tender, drain and sift them as usual; reduce the marmalade (on the fire) to a paste-consistence, stirring continually, accord¬ing to the quantity of quince-marmalade; refine a pound of sugar to three quarters of quinces; mix them together on a very flow fire without boiling, put it into what form you please directly, and dry as usual.
RED QUINCE PASTE
To make the paste of a fine red, bake the quinces in the oven a long while, then peel and sift them in a strong hair-sieve; dry the marmalade over a slow fire a little while, to about half the consistency of a paste then to redden it the more, keep it a good while on a slow ashes-fire, stirring some time; and to add to this redness, put a little steeped cochineal, and reduce it on a flow fire, to a thick paste; that is, when it loosens from the Pan; put as much sugar as marmalade, or paste, soak it a little while on the fire and let it cool, just enough to work it well with the hands, and finish directly as usual.
From Borella, The Court and Country Confectioner (London: 1770)
Historical Notes
Medieval English cookery texts give recipes for sweet fruit pastes called chardequince and chardewarden, made from quinces and pears (wardens). However, these were thickened with eggs and were probably designed for immediate consumption. Although true preserves of quinces were imported into England from the Mediterranean, they don’t seem to have been made here at home until the sixteenth century. They were shipped from Portugal, Genoa, Spain and France and were variously known as marmalades (from the Portugeuse marmelo – quince). Other names were cotoniack, quiddany and diasetonia. The last was a term used by the London apothecaries, who prescribed these sweet pastes and jellies for helping the digestion. This was the reason why quince pastes were served after the meal during the banquet course. In 1629, John Parkinson, the Covent Garden based herbarist to James I, wrote,
“There is no fruit growing in this Land that is of so many excellent uses as this, serving as well to make many dishes of meate for the table, as for banquets, and much more for the Physicall vertues”.
White and red quince pastes were both popular, the latter sometimes being coloured with barberry juice or cochineal. Quinces were also considered to be an aphrodisiac – probably the reason why seventeenth century London prostitutes were known as marmalade madams
To make Paste of Genua, as they doe beyond the Seas
Boile faire yellow Peare-Quinces tender in their skinnes, and so let them stand vntill the next day, till they be colde, then pare them, and scrape all the pulp from the coare, then take as much pulp of yellow Peaches as the pulp of Quinces doth weigh, and dry it vpon a little chafingdish of coales, alwaies stirring it, then boile these pulps in double refined Sugar, and so let it boile, always stirring it vntill it come to a candie height, with as much Rosewater as will melt that Sugar, and put in your pulps, alway stirring it in the boiling, vntill it come from the bottome of the Posnet, then fashion it vpon a pie plate, or a sheete of glasse, some like leaues, some like halfe fruits, and some you may print with moulds, set them into a warme Ouen after the bread is drawne, or into a Stoue, the next day you may turne them, and when the stuffe is through dry, you may box it, and keepe it for all the yeere, but be sure it be through dried before you lay it vp in store.
From John Murrel, A Daily Exercise for Ladies and Gentlewomen, (London: 1617)
To Preserve Quinces
Take Quinces and weigh them, core and pare them, then take for every pound of Quinces a pound of Sugar; then take Quinces and grate them and strain them; for every pound half a pint as the juyce of the Quinces, and half a pint of fair water; the water, and sugar, and syrrop must be first boyled and clean skimmed, then put in your Quinces and turn them still to keep the colour of them: then let them boyl so till the Quinces be tender, they must seethe very softly, for fear of breaking; and ever as the scumme ariseth, you must take it off with a feather.
From Archimagirus Anglo-Gallicus; Or, Excellent & Approved Receipts and Experiments in Cookery, (London: 1658)
Ratafia of Quinces
You must have some Quinces, and rasp them with a Grater; all being grated, you must have a Piece of strong Cloth, put in a small handful, and squeese it with all your Might, that the Juice may come from it; when all is squeesed and you have all the Juice, put it in a Preserving pan, let it take just one single Boiling, and let it cool; being cooled, measure two Quarts of Juice and two Quarts of Brandy, Measure by Measure, and clarify some Sugar; to each two Quarts, ten Ounces of Sugar, a Piece of Cinnamon, four Cloves, and three or four Grains of white Pepper whole; stop up your Jug very close, put it aside for two or three Months, put it through a Straining-bag, until it come very clear, and put it up in Bottles flopped very close.
From Vincent la Chapelle, The Modern Cook (London: 1733)
Historical Notes
A ratafia was an infused alcoholic cordial water which was produced without distillation. The classic flavour was made from the kernels of apricot or cherry stones. As a result, the English sometimes called these drinks ‘kernel waters’. Ratafia made from peach kernels was called persico, while that from bitter almonds was known as noyeau. They all have a sweet marzipan flavour like the Italian liqueur amaretto, which is in fact a ratafia. The crushed kernels were infused in brandy or aqua vitae for a couple of months before being filtered out and sweetened. There is a danger in trying to replicate these drinks, because the stones of these fruits all produce a small amount of cyanide when soaked in water! Be warned. It is much safer to make quince ratafia from La Chapelle’s recipe
Easy quince cheese recipe (membrillo)
Ingredients:
For the quince pulp:
• 1 kilo of quinces
• Zest of half a lemon
• Water to cover
For the quince cheese:
• Quince pulp
• Juice of half a lemon
• Granulated (not castor) white sugar (equal volume to the pulp)
Method:
1. Rub the down off the quinces and wash them. There is no need to peel or core the quinces.
2. Chop the quinces carefully, as they are hard it is easy for the knife to slip. I chopped them into quarters and sliced them into 1cm slices.
3. Place the quince slices in a large saucepan or casserole dish and add water so that they are just floating. Add the zest of half a lemon.
4. Bring slowly to the boil and then turn the hob down to it’s lowest setting so that the quinces gently simmer (lid on). Simmer the fruit until very soft and the fruit has turned a deep pink colour. This took me about 3 hours. Check the quinces every now and then and top up the water if necessary.
5. Strain the juice from the fruit overnight using a jelly bag or muslin square. Retain the juice to make quince jelly.
6. I was loathe to spend hours pressing the quinces through a sieve so I put them through the Magimix (medium grater blade) and then I sieved them.
7. Measure the pulp using a measuring jug put the pulp into a large heavy bottomed saucepan or casserole dish and add an equal volume of white granulated sugar. Add the juice of half a lemon.
8. Bring the pulp and sugar gradually to simmering point, stirring to dissolve the sugar and let it simmer, lowest setting for 2-3 hours, stirring every now and then to stop it sticking and burning. It will resemble gloopy mud. Gradually the colour will darken. Eventually the fruit will become very thick (I could stand my spoon up in mine).
9. Spoon into well oiled sterilised straight sided jars and seal with cellophane lids. This will keep for months. Cut slices to eat with cheese or cold meat. Refrigerate after opening.
Quince with Lamb or Quorn mince
Heat 1 tbspn olive oil in a deep frying pan. Add a chopped red onion and cook until soft. Turn the pan down to half heat. Now add:
115-117g chopped mushrooms
1 yellow pepper. Deseeded and chopped
4 small courgettes, thinly sliced
350g Quorn mince, or lamb mince
1 tbspn quince jelly
1 apple, peeled, cored and chopped
1 pt veg stock.
Cook and reduce, then serve with creamed potatoes.
by: As featured in the Sunday Telegraph Food and Drink by Tamasin Day – Lewis.
Bread and Butter Pudding with Quince Marmalade
Serves 8
In this bread and butter pudding the custard thickens and then oozes out from beneath the jammy crust. Use any Quince Poructs Marmalades – orange, lemon, ginger or whiskey. You can spread the buttered bread with marmalade and cook the pudding that was instead.
2-3oz/5-85g melted butter to brush over the bread
8-10 slices white bread, crusts removed
6 large egg yolks
5oz/140g vanilla caster sugar
1 vanilla pod, split with the seeds extracted with a teaspoon
10fl oz/250ml Jersey milk
10fl oz/250ml double cream
A handful of sultanas warmed in a little sherry, rum or water, then left to soak off the heat until swollen (about 30 mins)
Half a pot or more of quince marmalade
heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Grease a large pudding dish.
Brush the melted butter over the slices of bread and cut them in half triangles.
Whisk the yolks and caster sugar together in a bowl. Put the split vanilla pod and seeds into a pan with the milk and cream and bring to scald point before straining onto the egg and sugar, whisking as you go.
Arrange the bread in layers in the dish, sprinkling over the sultanas.
Pour the custard over the top and allow it to seep into the bread for 10 mins before putting the dish in a roasting tun with boiling water halfway up the sides of the dish. Cook for 25-30 mins, until the pudding begins to set.
Melt the quince marmalade in a pan with a spoon of water and brush it over the top of the pudding. Bubble it under the grill briefly or serve it as it is with plenty of pouring cream.
by: As featured in the Sunday Telegraph Food and Drink by Tamasin Day – Lewis.
Pork Chop with Quince Jelly
Use a pork chop with its kidney, or a pork steak if you prefer.
Turn grill to high. Lighly oil the grill pan with olive oil.
Place chop or steak in pan and baste with 2 tspn of quince jelly. Put under grill for about one minute, then turn chop over and baste with a further 2 tspn of quince jelly. Turn grill down low and cook slowly.
Meanwhile make a chunky apple sause. Cream potatoes and celeriac. Serve the pork and pour the meat juices over. Add a further vegetable of your choice, e.g. green beans.
Serve and enjoy…..
by: As featured in the Sunday Telegraph Food and Drink by Tamasin Day – Lewis.
Pheasant with Quince
Fill the cavity of a pheasant with 2 tbspn quince and damson cheese, or quince cheese, or quince cheese with a sprig of thyme. Cover the breast with bacon.
Melt a little butter in an oven dish, add pheasant and lightly brown. Pour in 1 or 2 glasses of red wine.
Place in preheated oven (220C) and roast for 35-40 minutes, basting from time to time with the red wine and meat juices.
When cooked to taste, remove pheasant to heated serving dish. Add crushed juniper berries and a further glass of red wine to the juices and boil over a high heat to reduce.
Carve the bird in half and serve with roasting juices with mash potatoes and cabbage. Add a small portion of quince cheese on the plate as a side dressing.
Boozy Quinces With Gorgonzola And Mascarpone
This satisfying, sweet and savoury dish is pudding and cheese course in one.
Preparation time : 20 minutes
Cooking time : 20 minutes to 45 minutes
Total time : 40 minutes to 1 hour 5 minutes
Ingredients
1 Lemon
6 tbsp Clear honey
2 Star anise
1 Cinnamon stick
1 Bay leaf
1 Rosemary sprig
600ml Red wine
4 Quinces, peeled, halved and cored
500g Gorgonzola
250g Mascarpone
Method
1. Peel 3 strips of rind from the lemon; leave the pith behind. Put in a large pan with the honey, herbs, spices and wine; bring to the boil. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add the quinces, topping up with water to cover if necessary. Put a lid on, return to the boil, then turn down the heat. Poach for 20–45 minutes until tender, turning once.
2. Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to a bowl. Take out the spices and herbs and boil until reduced by a third and slightly syrupy. Leave to cool – it will thicken further. Serve half a quince per person, with some syrup and the cheeses.
