Quince jelly and other quince recipes revisited
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Jam Jelly and Preserves | 50 comments
I decided last week to turn some of the quinces from Anna's garden into something delicious. I rubbed off the fluff, cut them into chunks and covered them with water and the zest of a lemon. They were simmering on the gentlest setting (lid on) for about four hours until they softened and the juice took on that deep pink hue.
I strained the juice through a jelly bag overnight and popped both the juice and the strained flesh into the fridge. I was delighted to discover that both keep happily in the fridge for a couple of weeks. 800g of quinces and 850ml (1.5 pints) of water made 600ml of thickish juice that I am going to dilute a bit before venturing to make our delicious jelly. The fruit pulp will be seived and turned into quince cheese or Membrillo.
However, neither the quinces nor the juice have quite the same rich colour of a photograph of poached quinces that I saw last year. Towards the end of 2006 I read two wonderful posts about quinces written by Melissa from The Traveller's Lunchbox. The first is an exquisite reminiscence of her first taste of membrillo and a good recipe. The second is a lazy way to make poached quinces and a vibrant red quince cordial. The photo on this post has stuck in my mind ever since.
Lying awake last night, I remembered Melissa's posts and recipes. Although the laptop was propped beside the bed and D was sleeping soundly beside me, I didn't like to fire it up just a foot away from his pillow. It has inbuilt speakers and is quite a vociferous machine.
So I crept downstairs and leafed through our abridged Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management
Surely one could make Membrillo out of the quinces in both recipes and jelly out of the quince infused water. You would need to leave out the sugar during the baking stage of the poached quince (recpe 2) and probably reduce the liquid a bit after the baking stage.
What do you think?
Also, on the subject of quinces, I found this gorgeous site today with some ancient recipes for making quince paste and setting it in beautiful moulds. These would make wonderful Christmas presents. We have some old glass bowls that belonged to my grandmother that have a star pattern cut into the base. They would make a good mould if the paste was not too hot.
Update. We ow have our own recipe for membrillo here.
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Oh this is just too weird. I made quince jelly on the weekend, after being inspired by your earlier post on this subject. Against all expectation it turned out brilliantly. I am going to blog about it shortly. I hope you will come see.
As for your question, I know next to nothing about quinces, but Stephanie Alexander in the Cooks Companion has a multi step process for using quinces.
She puts the quinces in a muslin bag and then poaches them in light sugar syrup. The quinces can then be used to make quince paste (which I assume is membrillo). And the quince syrup can be used to make quince custard (which sounds delicious), quince jelly or a thick glaze for fruit tarts.
So yeah, I think your idea totally could work.
Hi Fi, hurry and get better!
Those quinces in the pic at the top are beautiful! And the web link, what a wonderful source.
This really IS my favourite fruit now.
After a pot of fortifying coffee I am going to chop up 5lbs of quinces, it will all go into making Membrillo / cheese!
I wish I had some kind of moulds - oh! I have some mini jelly moulds, I may try one of those.
Lovely quince recipes ... Last week when I made some quince liqueur, I grated the quinces in the Magimix, and it took seconds, rather to my surprise. I have never made membrillo, but that's the next plan, and I'm going to Magimix the fruit first, to make the process easier. An early childhood memory is of spending the whole afternoon cutting rock hard quince into tiny cubes with my grandmother, to make her magical jam ... I think my knives must be sharper than hers were!
Joanna
joannasfood.blogspot.com
PS enjoyed seeing you on Britain's Best Dish, but how on earth did you stick that unbelievably rude man, the thin one who looks like the Red Queen from Alice in Wonderland??
"the thin one who looks like the Red Queen from Alice in Wonderland"
What a spot-on description, I knew he reminded me of something! Who cares what John Thingy-Whatsit says, we're going to try your lovely pot-roast next time we cook pheasant - bet it tastes fantastic.
An update on the quince cheese.
5 lbs of fruit made 4lbs when peeled. I chopped it all up, including the cores as the pulp goes through a sieve anyway. I didn't include the cores with the last lot, so I can compare them and see if has made any difference.
It took a while to cook, maybe 2 hours, and has made just over 2.5 lbs of deep red cheese. I put it into 8 small 6oz jars as it makes a nice gift (if we can bear to part with any that is).
There's a bit in a cup to try later!
I didn't use the jelly moulds as they are aluminium - not sure if it would taint the cheese.
I wonder if it improves with keeping, or is it ok to eat immediately . . .
Thanks again for your inspiration
sorry, they took 2 hours of cooking AFTER the sugar was in, PLUS a couple of hours before to make the pulp! I didn't want to muddle anyone!
i love the idea of dulce de membrillo and the weblink made it sound delicious but i haven't been able to even smell it since my 'Abuela' made me eat it when i was about 7 and i hated it! Now when i'm in Spain and anyone suggests it it just makes me gag! so badly in fact i can't let my children try it - or my OH and i'm sure he'd like it
in fact my face is all screwed up now because you've actually made me think about the taste of it. i'm sure it's lovely really but maybe my grandmother was just a really bad membrillo maker.... or maybe it wasn't meant for 7 year olds??
Hi KJ,
Great that the quince jelly worked for you. Of course I'll read your post when the time comes.
Thanks for the tips and recipe from Stephanie Alexander, much appreciated. Glad that you think that my proposition could work.
Hi Mildred,
Oh I envy you a day in the kitchen with 5lbs of quinces!
Thanks so much for detailing your timings and results with amounts, this is very useful information. Ideally, it needs to set for a few days before slicing and eating. I’ve no idea if the flavour improves with keeping. Perhaps someone out there knows.
Hi Joanna,
I was thinking of using the Magimix to thickly slice the quinces for membrillo. Or try baking them as in the second recipe. I was worried that I might break the Magimix. But if you gated quinces then slicing should be fine!
I hadn't noticed the similarity to Tenniel's Red Queen until you pointed it out. Definitely Jam tomorrow for me! Danny adored it when I showed him the illustration in the book.
Hi Celia,
I agree that the similarity to Red Queen is spot on.
The pot roast pheasant dish is good. Quite rich. Perfect for a celebration meal.
Hi ame,
What a shame to have had such an adverse reaction to membrillo.
I love it, Danny didn't like his taste of a commercially produced one (very sweet and a bit rubbery). I am hoping to win him over with some homemade membrillo.
Good luck with the Jelly and the Membrillo!!!
Wow, what a Find! What wonderful blog. I've only just discovered the weird fruit on a formerly ornate bush in my back garden are quinces, so looking for how to use them. I am absolutely Captivated by all I've read here. I don't think my few fruits will produce anything like 4-5 lbs, and they still have to ripen. At the moment they look like upper class cooking apples! I can hardly wait to try some (some? one if I'm lucky! but you have to start somewhere) recipes found here.
Hi Aitch, just to say that 3 or 4 of the quince fruit we were given made a pound - they are heavy fruits! Even 2 lbs is enough to create jelly or cheese. You can also use half apples to quinces. Maybe, if you only have a couple, try poaching them as a pud, I think Fi has mentioned that on another page.
And I agree with you, it IS wonderful to find such a wonderful blog, and to meet other enthusiastic cooks! I have felt very inspired
Hi Pat,
Can't wait to be up and about again, brandishing a wooden spoon!
Hi Aitch,
Pleased that you are enjoying the site.
You can cook with quinces when they are still hard. I am using my friend Anna's as her garden is about 3 weeks ahead of mine. Both types of quince, the japonica (round and apple like) and the quince from a quince tree (soft leaved tree with large almost pear shaped fruit) keep well if they are not bruised.
It's worth keeping your eyes peeled in the market as quinces are just coming into the shops now. Then you can supplement your harvest with a bit more.
Hi Mildred,
Thanks for your advice. You are right, they are dense heavy fruit.
Your enthusiasm is an inspiration!
Hope this is not too scary but, yes, I am a man who finds a whiff of quince-intoxication here. Not only that. My neighbour [oops, my spellchecker wants to say neighbor, does that help?] has a big quince this year heavily gravid with fruit - maybe a passing bonus from climate change. A couple of weeks ago she left on the doorstep a carrier bag bursting with perfumed early windfalls, knowing that I am dedicated to the distillation of fruitfulness into summer-memory-jellies of all kinds.
Being male, I use a coarse cheese-grater on the whole fruit (core too hard - needs further investigation) and dump the shreddings with juice and potato-peelered rind of a lemon or two into a pressure cooker with not a lot of water and cook for no more than 10 minutes. The result drains quite clear through a seive but I don't want to waste so pressure from the back of a ladle squeezes more from the pulp...this is quite pink, but...
There are still a few straggling blackberries to rescue from local fields and hedges, so I prepare a seived pulp of these to combine with the quince-extract...plus the usual 1lb/pint (1kg/litre) of sugar except I include a good dollop of English honey...
So I have laid down a few jars of jelly-jam labelled QuincessenceBrambleHoney23Sept2007.
But, having today discovered a staggering cache of sloes in the Churchyard at Westerham...
The
Hi Adam,
Your quince, blackberry and honey creation sounds delicious. Love the speedy way of creating your juice!
Unfortunately your comment was truncated so, unless you pass this way again, we will never know the fate of the sloes gathered in the church yard at Westerham...
Have just come across this wonderful site, and am about to make jelly this evening, using the sieved paste as a base for Normandy apple pie, with a quince jelly glaze! Now there's another 2lb. of large quinces, courtesy of a generous neighbour, in the fridge. I have never heard of membrillo but would like to try it. Will it freeze for an end of November Bazaar or should I pot it like jam! Help please. Thanks. Pat
Hi Pat,
Glad that you are enjoying the site.
Snap - I am on the jelly membrillo tail today. Membrillo needs to be put in a straight sided jar as it is sliced (ramekins would do at a pinch. Some people make a lrage flat cake and slice it up (this needs to be kept in the fridge.) If you put it in jars it has a similar shelf life to jam so no need to freeze.
I hope that I will be able to post our membrillo recipe tonight, if all goes well. I am trying to make one that is not too sweet. Fingers crossed!
Good to read you are Quinc-ing today Fi.
I just happened to look at a packet of 'Membrillo' in Waitrose the other day, it said 'the sweet flavour of quince with apples and pears . . . '. I didn't have my specs with me so I couldn't read the exact percentages. It reminded me of a so called 'Quince Jelly' in Tesco, the very small print read '8 percent PEAR concentrate, and 4 percent Quince concentrate' (it may have said syrup and not concentrate) followed by a list of other ingredients.
Am I doing it wrong I wonder . . . . basically for every pint of fruit syrup / pulp add a pound of sugar . . . . add a bit of lemon juice / rind, and that is it! We felt our second batch (in which we cooked the whole fruit, including the core) wasn't as sweet as the first lot. The sieve, of course, stopped any pips etc getting into the pulp.
I am looking forwards to reading about your triumph!
Hi Mildred
I reckon that they add the apples and pears to keep the price down.
I don't think that there's a right way or a wrong way for membrillo. You use the sugar quince ratio to suit your taste. I don't use the quince water in the membrillo as I use this for jelly but that's just my way.
Ahh the lovely quince... the ruby red colour jelly only shows right at the end of the process,when the heat and sugar start to set the preserve at around 105 o, be sure to skim the foamy impurity of the top near the end as this is the best way to get a really clear deep colour
Also there is no need to add colour of any kind, I always make sure at the simmer stage that I crack the pips as they stew ,this i was told helps the natural pectic and colour release.It does seem to work I also poach the fruit in chamomille tea to help balance the P.H value
Apple or pears are essentially a bulking addition, not bad but go for the pure quince fruit and you wont be dissapointed
HI Mark,
Thank you so much for your quince tricks and tips! I am making quince jelly this evening and next time will poach the quince in chamomile tea and crack the pips!
Phew! Last Sunday I was left truncated on the steep slopes of Westerham churchyard, after unwittingly standing on the nest-mound of a billion panic-stricken red ants, a convenient platform for me to reach and pluck the last handfuls of this summer's sloes from high twigs bulging with bunches of blue-black fruit. But unseen ants galloped up grass stalks bulging with the bodies of six billion synchronised legs to reach my twin pillers of trousered terror crushing the perfect craftwork of their subterranean city. Then followed the experience of plunging into leglessness in Westerham churchyard. For human fruit-gatherers, the correct word for the sensation of a billion red ants making free beneath one's underwear is 'formication' [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formication].
Sloes may seem to be be off-topic for this quince thread, but remember that ants have not yet evolved fruit-specific tendencies, so quinceurs are just as liable as sloefolk to post-formicatory shock. Indeed, there is good reason to suppose that it was the crafty-legged ant, not some silly legless serpent, which was un-noticed by truncated Adam as his eyelids collapsed in the dumb reverie of knowinglessness in the Garden of Eden. Similarly, Eve standing innocently on a grassy knoll, stretched with curiosity to reach that luminously big perfumed and deep down-covered yellow quince from the tree of the fruit of all knowledge... unwittingly opening herself to the six-fold leg-over-leg of that stalking ant...
After my recovery, 1,500g of sloes were brought home, most for preparing sloe gin (try adding good honey instead of tasteless refined sugar, for its extra-balsamic liquer-lingering nuance; and you don't need to prick every fruit - osmotic pressure and natural diffusion processes in time will reach the same sublime omega point). The remainder of the sloes were flash-boiled with the last umbels of elderberries, found drooping over the footpath leading from Westerham car park to Quebec House. These par-boiled fruit are now lying in state, awaiting the imminant tranche of freshly prepared quince-shreddings from next door's tree. The natural pink of quince extract for jelly is lovely but I'm not a purist - I used a remainder of last year's pure quince (and honey!) this year to bolster the jellatinisation of a batch of this year's bramblejelly [sorry, Mark], I'm happy with a brilliant purple blizzard of autumn anthocyanins and polyphenols. Later, I'm even prepared to slap this onto a slab of Cranks organic wholemeal over a layer of rough peanut butter. Better still, it's time to make another loaf of hybrid stoneground flours, deoxidised with raw olive, sesame and walnut oils etc...a luxuriantly meaty loaf to support all sweet or savoury foods.
WARNING: There is a neglected Shakespearean disease known as quinsy. If you are inclined to quince-yearning, please be sure that you feel comfortable with this fruit.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peritonsillar_abscess
Off to Suffolk next week; if pigs and rooks can eat acorns...
Hi Adam,
Great to have collected 1.5 kilos of sloes despite the attack of ants in your pants.
Thanks for the tip about using honey in sloe gin.
Well well, at last a recipe for quince jelly. We have a mature quince tree in our lovely town ( Georgian) garden and now have loads of fruit so am going to give this recipe a go this week-end. Will let you all know.
Many thanks
Peter
Hi Peter
I am so sorry, your comment got caught in the spam filter and I found it this morning.
I'd love to hear how you get on with cooking your quinces.