Last month, I shared with you with thoughts on how to seed pomegranates without painting your kitchen with random red polka dots. I had thought I would have space to talk about quince, but ran out of room. So, this month, we'll talk about this other underdog of the fall season, quince!

What Is a Quince?

 First off, you might be wondering what exactly a quince is? You might be thinking, 'Would I recognize it if one bumped into me? And, If I took a bite, would I like the taste? Quince comes in various sizes and shapes, but mostly they are somewhat yellow, somewhat lumpy, and somewhat larger than an apple. They are tart and tough and, therefore, not eaten raw. Sounds exciting so far, yes? OK, on we go.  Quince is part of the same family (the pome family) as apples, pears, and loquats. That means that quince taste sort of like apples which means that if you are allergic to apples, you might be able to eat quince candy and enjoy the apple-like taste. In addition, quince are an excellent source of pectin which can be used to thicken jams.

Quince Candy : The Experience

I was introduced to quince candy when a friend brought some over for a potluck. I thought the candy looked a little bit like rectangular beets and wasn't so keen on trying it. Even though I do like beets, it was the shape that got me. Fortunately, one of my friends tried it and said it was so good that I must have some. I agreed! The taste was pretty incredible it's like a perfumed apple, wow! The next year, I made my own candy. Here's how you can make your own candy.

Quince Candy : The Recipe

Go to the Farmer's Market and find 3 medium-size quince (i.e. the lumpy, yellow, large-apple sized fruit), or find a friend with a quince tree. Most people don't know what to do with quince and will be delighted to give you as many as you want. If you can only find the small, golf-ball size quince, just get more of them. The problem with the small quince though is that you'll spend more time peeling and coring many small quince than fewer large quince. The quince should be hard, and if they're a little under ripe, that's OK. Quince might still be available at the Farmer's Markets in January if they've been in storage.

Next, peel and core the quince. Make sure that you remove the entire core; otherwise, you'll get lumpy bits in the final candy.

Place the quince in a pot with a small amount of water, just enough to cover the bottom of the pan, so that the quince can start cooking. Cook the quince over medium heat until they've fallen apart and are completely soft. This might take 20 - 40 minutes, and you might need to add more water if the original amount of water has boiled off. Once the quince have started to fall apart, you won't need any more liquid, but you can have some fun trying to mash the quince with a wooden spoon every time you walk by the stove. Basically, it will mash when it's good and ready, and not before, but you can still check on it as you walk by.

Once the quince have fallen apart and are soft, turn off the heat, and use an immersible blender to blend the quince into a sauce. If you don't have an immersible blender, you are definitely missing out of one of the most important, and fun – tools in the kitchen, in which case, you need to transfer the softened quince to a regular blender, blend it without burning yourself, and return it to the pot.

Now, comes the fun part, actually two fun parts. First, add an amount of sugar equal to the amount of quince into the pot with the blended quince. This part is fun is because you have to figure out how much sugar to add. If you like things tart, add a little less sugar. If you like things sweet, add more. If you would like to have a little less fun during this part, you can measure the quince sauce and then add that same amount of sugar to the quince. Remember that you can always add more sugar, so you might want to start with less sugar, and add more as necessary.

Once the sugar and quince are in the pot, stir the quince and sugar together, bring to a boil, and then let it simmer on low heat for a very long time until the mixture is really thick. The second fun part is that during this long simmer, you'll see the quince change color from yellow to red! Truly astonishing! The final quince candy will be a deep red beet color. If your quince has not turned red, don't despair, it might just be that you have the variety of quince that does NOT turn red. It will still taste good!

When the quince mixture is really thick (could be hours later of simmering), pour it into a glass dish whose bottom is lined with wax paper. The wax paper makes the candy easier to remove later. Let the candy sit until it's cool and has set. If it doesn't set, you can place the dish in the oven (make sure no wax paper is showing) at 150°F until it sets (this could take up to 5 days,and it's OK to turn your oven off when you're not home and then back on when return home). Or, you can place the unset candy onto a dehydrator fruit leather tray and make quince fruit leather.

Cut into pieces and before serving, drizzle some confectioner's sugar on top for a touch of the winter look, and be sure to say Mmmmm Mmmmm, while eating.

Quincessentially Yours,

B.

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