Quince

[Barbirollians]

By the way, has anyone ever seen quinces for sale? I havent. They seem to be commercialy forgotten.

They are available in my local whole food greengrocers but they are quite special and had ceps in recently.

[jean]

They do sound special! How did the ceps get in?

[Barbirollians]

From an outfit called Autumn Harvest apparently - jolly expensive but one large one makes a sensational omelette or two

[gradus]

If you see a tree in a garden why not ask the householder if you can pick a few. The larger fruits can weigh the best part of a pound each and you don't need many to produce enough for cheese, butter, jams or jellies.

[David-G]

By the way, has anyone ever seen quinces for sale? I havent. They seem to be commercialy forgotten.

Currently available at Bayley and Sage in Wimbledon Village.

[Dave2002]

They are available in my local whole food greengrocers but they are quite special and had ceps in recently.

Ceps= https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boletus_edulis perhaps. Not heard of these before.

[Bryn]

Ceps= https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boletus_edulis perhaps. Not heard of these before.

I occasionally find them in local pine plantations, but not often enough. More often I find Boletus luridiformis, erythropus which is not quite as appetizing but still worth eating (avoided by some due to carelessly thinking it might be Boletus satanas, from which it is actually quite easily differentiated). Even more often I have to make do with Boletus badius, which is not bad at all.

[gradus]

In this neck of the woods I rarely find ceps, more usually parasols or field mushrooms and often giant puffballs.

[jean]

By the way, has anyone ever seen quinces for sale? I havent. They seem to be commercialy forgotten.

I got some at the local farmers' market this morning - almost missed them as I wasn't expecting to see any!

I think they're the real thing, not Japanese quince, though they're not very big. Only £1 a kilo.

Now send me some recipes!

[Belgrove]

Now send me some recipes!

A slow cooked lamb tagine last weekend. The peeled and sliced quinces were added about 20mins from the end of the cooking, but the peelings and cores, tied in muslin, were added to the stew from the start. You don't want the fruit to collapse to a mush. The exotic, perfumed quinces add to the gentle but aromatic cinnamon, ginger and saffron spices. Followed by sliced and cored quinces poached in a vanilla and crème de cassis flavoured syrup - spectacular colour and tasty too.

[gradus]

Basic Quince jam: Peel,core chop/slice cover with water and simmer until soft, can take half an hour or more if they are unripe, reduce with the pan lid off if the mixture is too watery. Add jam sugar (ie with pectin added), I use about 3/4lb per pound of fruit and lemon juice if the quinces were very ripe, bring quickly to the boil and keep it boiling until it reaches a set. Lots of ways to check this eg use a jam thermometer and stop when it reaches around 220F.f, or drop some on a cold plate and let it cool and see if it seems to have the right consistency when cool. Rememeber to take the jam off the heat whilst you test the set!
For Quince Jelly the method is similar although you can add more water say about 6 pints to 4 pounds of fruit, bring the pulp to the boil check that it isn't too watery if so reduce further and then add the sugar, boil then strain through a jelly bag into hot sealable jars.
Fr Quince Butter (often spiced) and Quince Cheese the first steps are much as above but you need to produce a smooth pulp for both, hence either sieve it or if you prefer use an electric hand blender and for each pound of fruit add 1/2 to 3/4 pounds of sugar plus spices of choice if making butter and bring to the boil until you get a thick creamy result or for Quince cheese, add 1pound of sugar to each pound of fruit, bring to the boil and stir constantly to stop burning until a spoon drawn across the bottom of the pan leaves a clean line Thne aim is to produce a stiff texture.
Fruit Butter doesn't keep as long as Cheese unless sealed in airtight containers. I find fruit cheeses keep well in the fridge.

I hope some of this helps, they're essentially the recipes in the Domestic Preservation of Fruit and Veg Buletin 21 published years ago by the Min of Ag, Fish and Food but they work!

[vinteuil]

Now send me some recipes!

... last week Mme v acquired this -

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1784721190

which is full of interesting ideas.

For quinces, she [the author] has -

pickled quinces
quince and star anise jelly
quince cheese
quince ratafia
quince sharbat

... all of which look tempting

[jean]

Thank you! I can see I should have bought more when I had the chance.

[Bryn]

Noticed quinces in the Windsor Waitrose in the past few days, £1 each. Worth trying other branches.

[jean]

We do not have Waitrose where I live.