This is a great pity, for it's a delicious addition to many foods and subliminal on hot buttered toast, gluten-free or gluten-rich. I've tried both so do know what I'm talking about!
I've even made quince paste myself, and spiced quinces flavoured with coriander. This same sister also, once had a beautiful old quince tree in one of her gardens and one year, because she had such a large crop of fruit, she kindly gave me a bagful of this most precious fruit, which I excitedly took home and turned into Membrillo and fruit leather!
Now, from experience, I must say I was very disappointed with the Spanish quinces I used once. Perhaps they were just old stock, or simply dry but, the cut-thru' fruit presented a totally dry and cotton-wool "fluffy-papery look" which did not cook well at all. I have not used Spanish quinces again so perhaps this was just a one-off bad experience. I hope my remarks don't give offence to any one - they are not meant to - but I must speak out as I find!
The quince is close to an apple and in-between a pear and an apple. It's quite a solid fruit, with a yellow-y coloured skin with, sometimes, a soft-down, and in appearance may look lumpy. A softening quince, left overnight in a closed room, will sweetly scent that room, rather like a Hyacinth plant does; it's a joy to have in the kitchen.
An ancient fruit, most probably known to mankind before the apple and could very likely be the "golden apple" of history, for its decidedly golden-yellow colour.
The quince is a great boon to the preserve maker, for the fruit has a very high pectin content, which produces an easy set to the preserve and is thus useful for use with other fruits which contain less pectin; used with unknown apples or pears (as opposed to a good "cooker" fruit), as from old or "wilding" apples, for an excellent preserve for eating with savoury dishes or roast meats and on hot buttered crumpets or toast. With dry water or cheese biscuits, and cheese, quince paste or a spiced quince, presents a delicious finish to a meal, also making a very good lunch-time dish, for the hungry appetite.
A quince paste may also be cooked "down further" to produce a mix that when dried on flat trays or dishes, cut into small squares and rolled in caster sugar (aka powdered sugar, American-style), gives a most delightful sweetmeat to devour with good coffee as a finale to an excellent dinner. We would still call this a "paste" but our American cousins style this sweetmeat a "fruit leather" which does sound rather more romantic, don't you think?
Membrillo is the Argentinian name for a quince preserve from the Portuguese "marmelo, 'quince'". I was terribly excited when first cooking this wonderful fruit and even more so when visiting cousins, who'd lived in the Argentine with their parents, spoke enthusiastically of this, to them, very well-known
food item.
Our modern word "marmalade" comes from the Portuguese word "marmelo" meaning "quince" which is, of course, a well-reduced preserve. In Medieval England, grand-high-table feasts always included towering displays of shaped quince paste, to complement the richness of the display. BTW - also displayed at such feasts, shapes of damson, eaten with the same gusto and enthusiasm as the quince.
The quince is made into confectionery, liqueurs, jams and preserves and is highly rated in many parts of the world, is a native fruit of South-West Asia and apparently was known as the "pear of Cydonia" according to my Concise Larousse Gastronomique P. 103l - ISBN 0-600-60009-2.
I love the quince for so many reasons - its historic connection, the scent and feel of its knobbly exterior and for all the wonderful preserves that may be prepared with this ancient and wonderful fruit.
I have written from the heart, because I hold this fruit in such high esteem, but I have checked out a few pointers with the following books in my kitchen library, namely -
the Concise Larousse Gastronomique ISBN 0-66-60009-2; Elizabeth David's Spices, Salt and Aromatics in the English Kitchen - English Cooking, Ancient and Modern - ISBN 0 14 046.163 9 ;
Mike Darton's A Potted History of Fruit - ISBN 978-1-907332-52-4 and to two Wikipedia Pages on Quinces;for Wikipedia's pages, I have made a donation, of a very small sum, to assist them with their work, for which I am very grateful.
Now I can't wait for next autumn's much hoped for generous harvest of quince fruit and a generous gardener to give me a few of his precious crop!!!...!
Happy eating and a fruitful year to all
Daisy
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| Quince Paste by Emily Foods of Spain - delicious! |
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