Three Ways of Cooking with Quince
Making Hot Desserts with Fruits of Ornamental and True Quince Tree
Sep 22, 2008
Abundant autumn crop of green quince raises the question of “what can be done with quince?". Relatively hard when harvested, quince fruit from true quince trees and ornamental shrubs are edible. The taste of raw quince, like raw elderberries in season from September, will win over few fruit fans.
Stewing and baking quince are sound options for cooks to release the flavours of quince and make good use of this interesting and colourful fruit.
Stewed Fresh Quince Recipe
Ingredients:
- 2 fresh whole quinces weighing around 1 lb
- ¼ lb light brown sugar
- ½ pint still drinking water
Directions:
- Add the brown sugar to the water in a saucepan and bring to the boil.
- Boil for 10 minutes or until the sugar dissolves.
- Peel, cut the quinces into halves and remove the stones.
- Stew the quinces until soft. This will take much longer than other soft fruits like pears or plums.
- Serve the fruit warm in the quince fruit syrup.
Baked Quinces Recipe
Donna Hay has published an elegant recipe for ‘Baked Quinces’, baking fresh quinces with vanilla, in her Modern Classics Books 2: cookies, biscuits + slices, small cakes, cakes, desserts, hot puddings, pies and tarts (Fourth Estate, 2003).
In an earlier cookbook, professional chef Gary Rhodes published 'Baked cider, cinnamon and honey quince with raspberries and sweet vanilla cream' in his Gary Rhodes Cookery Year Autumn into Winter (BBC Worldwide, 2002) and also recipes for an intelligent 'Quince-topped Almond Bake' and 'Home-made Quince Jam'.
Baked Quince Pudding Recipe
Ingredients:
- 2 or 3 fresh whole quinces
- 6 oz light brown sugar
- 4 oz wholemeal plain flour
- 2 eggs
- 2 oz butter
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 oz dark chocolate
- 2 tablespoons of milk
- 2 tablespoons castor sugar
Directions:
- Grease a pie-dish
- Peel, cut the quinces into quarters and remove the stones. Place the fresh quince in the bottom of the pie-dish.
- Sprinkle the quince fruit quarters with 2 oz of light brown sugar.
- In a glass mixing bowl, cream the butter and remaining sugar.
- Separate the egg whites and yolks and set the egg whites to one side.
- Add 2 yolks of the eggs to the bowl.
- Sieve the wholemeal plain flour and with the baking powder add to the glass bowl.
- Then dissolve the dark chocolate into the milk.
- Turn the mixture in the bowl using up to 2 tablespoons of milk and chocolate blend. Stop turning in when the mixture has a firm consistency.
- Spoon the mixture on top of the quinces and bake in a moderate oven for 1 hour 20 minutes.
- Whip up the egg whites and stir in the castor sugar to make a meringue.
- Add the meringue topping to the pie dish. It is the cook’s choice how formal or casual to arrange the meringue on top of the baked quince pudding.
- Return to the oven for 15 minutes or until the meringue is set and the peaks lightly browned.
True Quince Trees and Ornamental Quince Trees
The distinction between true quince trees and ornamental quince trees is set out in the expert monograph Vegetable & Fruit Gardening: The Definitive Guide to Successful Growing (Dorling Kindersley, 2008) from The Royal Horicultural Society, with Michael Pollock as Editor-in-Chief: “The true quince (Cydonia oblonga) is a relative of the pear, and originated in central to southwestern Asia. It is often confused with the shrubby ornamental Chaenomeles species, which are also edible. Those are thorny shrubs, whereas the true quince, is a thornless, medium-sized tree”.
Quince fruit produced from growing true quince and ornamental quince trees can be used in the above recipes and in making quince jam.
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