Quince?

[flyinglentris]

I have never tried quince before and figured I try in in a smoothie. It's hard and tough and I had to cut it up into little peaces before letting it bang around in my blender. It's not sweet in any way, but gave the smoothing a rough texture.

But quince confused me and I wound up scratch'n my head about how people use and prepare quince. I did a little research and it seems that it is often cooked, after which it turns pink and possibly pinkish.

I have one left and would like to evaluate it as it might uniquely be prepared, but as I am the type that doesn't just want to follow exactly another recipe, I would like to inquire for suggestions on alternatives for preparing quince.

Thank You,

 

[Francesca]

Firstly, Happy New Year ..

The only ways I have ever seen quince or membrillo (the name of the fruit in Spanish as we are large producers and export it throughout Latin America and to Latin Grocers in North America and The Caribbean) are:

A) Quince (Membrillo) a fruit jelly paste that is served with a fresh White cheese ..
B) Quince Marmalade.
C) Quince Tarts or Pies ..
D) Quince with Quail or Pheasant or Guinea Fowl or Chicken to provide a sweet and savory flavor ..

I do know the quince fruit must be cooked for quite some time on a slow low simmer in wáter with sugar until tender ..

I also have seen several récipes on The BBC Good Food Website ..

 

[epicuric]

Agree with @Francesca , we have a quince bush in the garden, it's only really use is to make quince cheese (jelly) to go with cheese.

 

[Herbie]

We had a quince bush in the garden when I was a child. My mum used to made marmalade.

 

[Morning Glory]

But quince confused me and I wound up scratch'n my head about how people use and prepare quince. I did a little research and it seems that it is often cooked, after which it turns pink and possibly pinkish.

It isn't to be eaten raw. It must be cooked. It takes quite a lot of cooking to achieve that pink colour. I am still a quince newbie but I did cook some a few weeks ago. I poached it for about an hour or more to get the colour. But - it has an exquisite aromatic taste. I have some right here now and intend to experiment in the next few days!

 

[Morning Glory]

Agree with @Francesca , we have a quince bush in the garden, it's only really use is to make quince cheese (jelly) to go with cheese.

Watch this space! I'm going to be using quince in other ways.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

I have never tried quince before and figured I try in in a smoothie. It's hard and tough and I had to cut it up into little peaces before letting it bang around in my blender. It's not sweet in any way, but gave the smoothing a rough texture.

But quince confused me and I wound up scratch'n my head about how people use and prepare quince. I did a little research and it seems that it is often cooked, after which it turns pink and possibly pinkish.

I have one left and would like to evaluate it as it might uniquely be prepared, but as I am the type that doesn't just want to follow exactly another recipe, I would like to inquire for suggestions on alternatives for preparing quince.

Thank You,

We always either made quince jelly or jam with it or made apple and quince crumble which was lovely. There are many different varieties of wine as well. Some are more fragrant than others and some much larger. One I had only ever have us huge green fruit similar to an apple (but very tart) whereas the other bush have us very small much softer yellow fruit that had all the fragrance and no taste.

 

[Francesca]

We always either made quince jelly or jam with it or made apple and quince crumble which was lovely. There are many different varieties of wine as well. Some are more fragrant than others and some much larger. One I had only ever have us huge green fruit similar to an apple (but very tart) whereas the other bush have us very small much softer yellow fruit that had all the fragrance and no taste.

@SatNavSaysStraightOn & @morning glory,

They are grown approximately 3 hours south of Madrid, in the Cáceres autonomous región of Extremadura and are yellow when ripe and green when unripened ..

They are quite bigger than than an apple and not as finely circular in shape .. The skin is unedible .. They must be cooked on slow simmer with sugar for quite a length of time to get a tender interior ..

They are also used in sauces for game birds in this región of Extremadura and it is quite tasty ..

 

[Kake Lover]

You have taken me down memory lane!
My grandmother had a quince bush (she lived in Wiltshire, UK) and used to make quince jam and quince jelly.
I remember how delicious it was on toast.

 

[flyinglentris]

The skin is unedible

In my smoothie, I ground up everything. I don't figure the skin is inedible or toxic 'cause I'm still breathing with no ill effects.

After cooking up quince, can it be eaten without jellying it? Can you have say - thin quince slices on a plate as an embellishment?

 

[Morning Glory]

In my smoothie, I ground up everything. I don't figure the skin is inedible or toxic 'cause I'm still breathing with no ill effects.

After cooking up quince, can it be eaten without jellying it? Can you have say - thin quince slices on a plate as an embellishment?

Absolutely. You can create 'ball' using a small melon baller too.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

In my smoothie, I ground up everything. I don't figure the skin is inedible or toxic 'cause I'm still breathing with no ill effects.

There are plenty of fruits which are peeled because people say the skin is inedible. Inedible is simply a statement of palatability, nothing more.

I'll happily nibble at mango skins now I know that you can eat them. They have a totally different flavour to the flesh itself which isn't always that great in places (depends on ripeness) but it is often deemed to be inedible because it bares no taste resemblance to mango flesh and isn't sweet. It can also be quite tough in places as well. It's not toxic but it's not always pleasant and I wouldn't eat all of it.

 

[flyinglentris]

There are plenty of fruits which are peeled because people say the skin is inedible. Inedible is simply a statement of palatability, nothing more.

That's an incredible statement applied to quince which is tough and lacks much in flavor in its raw form. What isn't being said here is that the skins of fruits and vegetables are often claimed to hold higher vitamin and mineral value. Heck, I eat baked potatoes, skin and all.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

That's an incredible statement applied to quince which is tough and lacks much in flavor in its raw form. What isn't being said here is that the skins of fruits and vegetables are often claimed to hold higher vitamin and mineral value. Heck, I eat baked potatoes, skin and all.

The quince I used to grow in my garden back in the UK were never, ever peeled. As for raw quince, I've eaten it. The same as I've eaten raw elderberries, damsons and other fruit that many people don't eat raw. I routinely have away kilos of quince from my garden. It is the variety of it that is grown that is important. They are no different to apples or potatoes in that sense, there are dozens of not hundreds of varieties and not all of them are flavourless or hard when raw and ripe. That is the key. The yellow ones that used to grow in my garden where softer when ripe than some apple varieties are ripe.

I've only ever eaten baked potatoes with skins. The very concept of not eating the skin of a jacket potato is alien to most of the UK and Ireland! I've only ever encountered peeled jacket potatoes when I went into hospital in Australian last July.

The very concept of peeking veg or fruit is not something I was brought up with, nor consider. Any recipe that calls for me to peel fruit or veg or ignore the green parts of leeks finds itself ignored. I eat far more of the veg than most people consider edible. Even carrot tops where the green shots come out of the (insert colour here: purple/orange/yellow/white) tuber are eaten. There's no reason to throw it away. I also don't peel squashes. The entire squash is eaten except for the hard shell around the seeds. The softer flesh from around the seeds finds its way into seeds. The skin is eaten with whatever calls for the flesh. No need to peel.

 

[flyinglentris]

That sounds ravenous. I guess that goes a long way toward settling any arguments about quince skin being edible.