Quince

[HdV]

Every year we have an abundance of walnuts, apples, pears, prunes, cherries, persimmons and other fruits and nuts. But there are 2 fruits that almost never give a good harvest: our quince and our fig. The quince suffers from a fungus that we never managed to get under control. And the fig just will not get ripe enough before the end of the season, although the shrub itself grow abundantly. This year was a surprise, however. Today I went to take a look at our quince tree, which we planted as a memorial to our long-deceased Leonberger, and found it had 28 ripe fruits! What a treat! Those in the bucket were good to pick. There's about the same amount still on the tree.



Now to think about what I will do with them...

 

[AndyP]

Makes a good jam although I’ve not made any in years. Never see them here.

 

[Phil]

Makes a good jam although I’ve not made any in years. Never see them here.

Not great to eat. I remember as a kid we used salt on the slices to eat it.

 

[PAC1]

Quince jelly is the best thing to do with them followed closely by membrillo.
We usually turn 75% to jelly and the rest for membrillo but if you have cheese and biscuits regularly then more membrillo.

 

[HdV]

I need to look up membrillo. Never heard of it before. Thanks for the suggestion. I usually make some dishes with potato and beef in the oven with it. And I have a great recipe for quince chutney. That's about it. I think I'll need to invest a bit of time to search the internet for inspiration...

 

[Sheffield Tony]

A little quince gives a nice fruity lift to a range of apple desserts, eg. apple tart or crumble.

It also can be added to pork or even venison casseroles.

Quince jam makes a great glaze for the top of an apple tart, as you might use apricot jam. Or as a glaze for a ham.

Quince and habanero jam has a nice fruity kick, if you are into that sort of thing.

 

[AJB Temple]

Last week we harvested about 20kg quince. Used for clear jelly and membrillo as above. Guests like it. Just processing about 10 kg crab apples into juice for jelly overnight (they are a pain to prep and quite small this year). It's been a good year for produce, especially tomatoes, chillies and aubergines, cucumbers, strawberries and other soft fruit. Less so for apples and plums. I've made a few litres of our own tomato jam, ketchup and hot tomato and chilli sauces.