The transformation of Quince
Our quince tree has been prolific right from the start. Initially, we had about 15 large fruits from which we turned into poached quince pieces and added them to desserts.
The fruit is too hard to peel we just chop them with a knife and leave the skins on and work on removing the skin in later steps. In the case below we have boiled on a stovetop for what seemed like hours until the fruit transforms in colour from yellow to a lovely glowing ruby red. We typically strain the pulp and use that for quince paste or fruit leather, and use the juice for jelly jam.
We have found their there are two methods for sweetening the quince which is quite astringent otherwise – firstly, to add a cup of sugar for each cup of chopped quince in the pot with a cup of water, or secondly (our preference) is to boil and separate the juice from the pulp and sweeten as required. The reason we do it this way is that the pulp as a paste is great for adding to stews while the juice makes a great jam.
