Good luck!

To tell you the truth I sieved for years having forgotten that I had a mouli at the back of a store cupboard. This year when I found it my preserving life was transformed

BTW the quince jelly often sets very quickly. If it sets too hard for you we have a post that tells you how to get over this problem http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/jelly-set-too-hard-514

Thanks for the link to Wikipedia. We make a Seville orange marmalade with added quince (the flesh left over from straining for jelly) – recipe coming soon.

I put the cooked quinces through the food mill this takes out the pips easily. Well done going for the jelly and the quince cheese – I’m sure that you won’t be disappointed.

You can always add a bit more water to the too solid chutney and reboil it. It’s difficult to know how solid it will be when it’s still hot. To get round this problem I now leave it in the saucepan to cool overnight if it’s the right consistency I gently bring it to boiling point and then pot it up.

Picked quinces from my mother’s ornamental quince yesterday, all bright yellow fruits, some gone light brown (with frost damage I hope) mostly around 1.5cm – 4cm across.

I discarded the ones which were mushy but decided to keep the others (only 10% of them at the most) which were still firm but looking slightly discoloured by the frost. I reckoned they were OK and as I was about to boil them for three hours, and then some, they would work fine.

When trying to identify the type of quince I found out that the word marmalade comes from the Portugues for quince cheese. How interesting is that?! – We had a breakfast discussion about the difference between fruit conserve, marmalade and jam the other morning, this is a revelation. Mind you it came from Wikipedia so it might not be true! here’s the link…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quince_cheese

Anyway – back to the plot… I read through the whole recipe for Membrillo and decided the pips had to come out if I was to use the pulp. 1kg of fruit took a good hour, they are quite fiddly, I will look for big quinces in the shops next year, or plant one! Brought them to the boil around 11.30 p.m. and had already decided they were to go in the oven. set the oven on timer for 3 hours, put the lid on the pan and crossed my fingers.

If anyone knows that I didn’t have to remove the pips or knows any tricks I would be interested

7:00 this morning – came down to a deliciously fragrant kitchen, checked the fruit – looks good, nice and soft slightly warm, now straining.

Checked Larousse Gastronomique for Quince Cheese (Pate de Coings), I’m trying to find the recipe with the least sugar (and then I will probably subtract some!). The Larousse would have us using the liquor we cooked the Quinces in to boil up with the sieved quinces. Good idea, in some ways –
– might make the membrillo more tasty,
– no need to strain for 12 hours,
– less washing up.
But,
– then you would have no quince jelly!!

I have decided to go for the double whammy quince jelly and membrillo option! Mainly because I have never made either before, AND they both sound delicious. I love quince jelly, isn’t it funny how something which used to be very popular is now “out of fashion” except as a delicatassen item and amongst the cognoscenti.

BTW – I made the spicy damson chutney (somewhere on this site) and it is delicious except it is probably too solid – I think I overboiled it, after watching like a hawk over a period of two days (of frequently interrupted cooking). I may reboil it with a couple of cinnamon sticks to re-enliven. Or I could relabel as “spicy damson cheese”! It is gorgeous with cheese or cold meat.

Looking forward to steaming up the windows again later!

Have just made my first batch of Jelly and dare i say it…OMG ! bit long winded but well worth it in the end, I am also an avid chilli grower and made two jars with Apache Chillies finely chopped into them…If you are brave enough you have got to try this!!