Unlock The Secrets Of The Quince

What an unusual and old fashioned fruit. It’s somewhere between a Rose scented Apple and the most astringent sour flavour known to man………when it’s uncooked. I have pranked many people on this sweet looking fruit! It never gets old!

But treat it right and you have the most delightful sweet / sour / floral combinations that you can get from nature.

Everybody’s heard of Quince Paste and I do have a great recipe for that….. stay tuned for that one!

My absolute favourite thing to do with them is make Quince Cheeks in Vanilla Syrup.

The name alone shouts Food Lover Fantasy as far as I’m concerned and it’s such a simple thing to do with them. They honestly just blip away on the stove top, not needing stirring or looking at for most of the day.

In fact you could easily put these in your slow cooker and leave them overnight.

Here’s a video of me making this delicious dish. Recipe below.

Recipe & Method:

This is a quantities recipe meaning you can make as much or as little as you like. It doesn’t affect, flavour or cooking time but for this one I used 2kg of Quinces. (In the video I only used 1 kg of Quinces and I ended up using 1 1/2 cups of sugar)

Peel all the quinces and cut off the cheeks. Slice big cheeks into smaller cheeks and put into a large pot.

Add enough water to just come under the Quinces in the pot. For me this was 4 cups of water.

Simmer away for hours and you only need to check on them occasionally to make sure they don’t run out of water. I put a lid on mine and gently simmered for 3 hours.

So far they’re only in water, so after 3 hours, you’ll notice they’ve gone a pretty pink colour. It really takes quite a while to get them this colour, but be patient, as they’re not needing stirring or anything.

After 3 hours, add 750g of sugar (3 cups of sugar) stir to dissolve and allow to blip away on simmer heat for another 2 hours.

Stir in a good sized tablespoon of good Vanilla Paste.

Ladle into clean and dry jars that are room temperature and when the fruit has filled the jar, ladle enough rubied liquid to fill the jar to within 1/2 from the very top of the jar.

Put the lid on firmly and turn upside down for 3 mins.

Once it’s been 3 mins, turn upright and allow to cool.

You now have a versatile jar of deliciousness waiting to embellish Icecream, Rice Pudding, Cheesecake, Granola, A frappe, a hot tea, a Vanilla Cake, and so much more. xx Cindy