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Message |
PR
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 2:23 am
Post subject: Quince Season |
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Well, it's finished. The four pounds of smiling, fragrant golden quinces
which once sat in a big glass bowl on my counter have been converted, after
a week's worth of deliberating, into six big jars of clear sparkling quince
jelly. It was surprisingly mess-free, though it was time-consuming. Now I'm
having thoughts of lovelier combinations, such as peach-passionfruit jelly.
Quinces don't usually make it in large numbers to the stores here, but this
year there were piles and piles of them. I thought to myself upon seeing
them, "No one is going to buy those." People don't usually go for the
unusual stuff here --- the happy stacks of translucent ripening persimmons
or the carefully-packed cartons of flat Saturn peaches (which are uncommonly
consistent in their whitely goodness). The thought of them smiling all the
way to the dumpster out back made me feel sad, so I bought the quinces and
tried to put them to good use.
I've been told that quinces shouldn't be eaten raw because of their
suffocating sourness, but I actually enjoy them that way, and don't think
they are very sour. Am I alone? They have a dry, rosy apple-like flavor...
So is quince a count noun? I'm inclined to think that it is, but I'm
inclined not to use it as one. "How much quince does that recipe take?"
"I've just bought more quince than anyone has a right to."
Now I'm thinking of whom to give the jelly to, and what kinds of things it
might go well with. Cooked into an apple pie sounds like a definite
possibility, or maybe glazed over a ham or a chicken.
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Maria Conlon
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 2:53 am
Post subject: Re: Quince Season |
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PR wrote:
| Quote: | Well, it's finished. The four pounds of smiling, fragrant golden
quinces which once sat in a big glass bowl on my counter have been
converted, after a week's worth of deliberating, into six big jars of
clear sparkling quince jelly. It was surprisingly mess-free, though
it was time-consuming. Now I'm having thoughts of lovelier
combinations, such as peach-passionfruit jelly.
[...]
Now I'm thinking of whom to give the jelly to, and what kinds of
things it might go well with. Cooked into an apple pie sounds like a
definite possibility, or maybe glazed over a ham or a chicken.
|
Just about anyone in aue would be happy to serve as the recipient of
some jelly.
Where do you live? :-)
--
Maria Conlon
Food is always On Topic |
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Mark Brader
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 3:33 am
Post subject: Re: Quince Season |
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P.R. writes:
| Quote: | I've been told that quinces shouldn't be eaten raw because of their
suffocating sourness ...
So is quince a count noun? ... I'm inclined not to use it as one.
|
No? Look again.
I read a book recently about the Magellan expedition. The phase
of the trip where they crossed from South America to Polynesia
lasted long enough that almost everyone on the three ships
developed a serious case of scurvy, and many crewmen died.
However, Magellan himself, along with a few of his officers, did
not. Of course, the cause of scurvy was not then known; if they
realized that they were being protected, they would probably have
thought it was because they had better air in the officers'
quarters, or something like that -- instead of better food.
Specifically, as a delicacy for the officers, they had a supply
of quince jelly.
--
Mark Brader "Relax -- I know the procedures backwards."
Toronto "Yeah, well, that's a quick way to get killed."
msb@vex.net -- Chris Boucher, STAR COPS
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Donna Richoux
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 3:39 am
Post subject: Re: Quince Season |
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Mark Brader <msb@vex.net> wrote:
| Quote: | P.R. writes:
I've been told that quinces shouldn't be eaten raw because of their
suffocating sourness ...
So is quince a count noun? ... I'm inclined not to use it as one.
No? Look again.
I read a book recently about the Magellan expedition. The phase
of the trip where they crossed from South America to Polynesia
lasted long enough that almost everyone on the three ships
developed a serious case of scurvy, and many crewmen died.
However, Magellan himself, along with a few of his officers, did
not. Of course, the cause of scurvy was not then known; if they
realized that they were being protected, they would probably have
thought it was because they had better air in the officers'
quarters, or something like that -- instead of better food.
Specifically, as a delicacy for the officers, they had a supply
of quince jelly.
|
They dined on mince and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand on the edge of the sand
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon. |
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Ray Heindl
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 3:50 am
Post subject: Re: Quince Season |
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"PR" <noreply@none.com> wrote:
| Quote: | I've been told that quinces shouldn't be eaten raw because of
their suffocating sourness, but I actually enjoy them that way,
and don't think they are very sour. Am I alone? They have a dry,
rosy apple-like flavor...
|
The ones that grew in my yard when I were a lad were extremely sour and
hard as rocks -- only to be eaten on a dare. My mouth waters, not in a
good way, just thinking about them. But that quince bush was
probably planted for its ornamental, not gustatorial, qualities. No
doubt the varieties meant for eating are more, um, edible.
--
Ray Heindl
(remove the Xs to reply) |
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sage
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 6:10 am
Post subject: Re: Quince Season |
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Ray Heindl wrote:
| Quote: | "PR" <noreply@none.com> wrote:
I've been told that quinces shouldn't be eaten raw because of
their suffocating sourness, but I actually enjoy them that way,
and don't think they are very sour. Am I alone? They have a dry,
rosy apple-like flavor...
The ones that grew in my yard when I were a lad were extremely sour and
hard as rocks -- only to be eaten on a dare. My mouth waters, not in a
good way, just thinking about them. But that quince bush was
probably planted for its ornamental, not gustatorial, qualities. No
doubt the varieties meant for eating are more, um, edible.
They grow like weeds in our garden. Pause. Thinks. Darn it: They *are* |
weeds. But the flowers are such a delicate orange colour.
Cheers, Sage |
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sage
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 6:12 am
Post subject: Re: Quince Season |
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Donna Richoux wrote:
| Quote: | Mark Brader <msb@vex.net> wrote:
P.R. writes:
I've been told that quinces shouldn't be eaten raw because of their
suffocating sourness ...
So is quince a count noun? ... I'm inclined not to use it as one.
No? Look again.
I read a book recently about the Magellan expedition. The phase
of the trip where they crossed from South America to Polynesia
lasted long enough that almost everyone on the three ships
developed a serious case of scurvy, and many crewmen died.
However, Magellan himself, along with a few of his officers, did
not. Of course, the cause of scurvy was not then known; if they
realized that they were being protected, they would probably have
thought it was because they had better air in the officers'
quarters, or something like that -- instead of better food.
Specifically, as a delicacy for the officers, they had a supply
of quince jelly.
They dined on mince and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand on the edge of the sand
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.
The runcible spoon was once the topic of an aue thread. |
Cheers, Sage |
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Maria Conlon
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 8:07 am
Post subject: Re: Quince Season |
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PR wrote:
| Quote: | Maria Conlon:
I wrote:
[...]
Now I'm thinking of whom to give the jelly to, and what kinds of
things it might go well with. Cooked into an apple pie sounds like a
definite possibility, or maybe glazed over a ham or a chicken.
Just about anyone in aue would be happy to serve as the recipient of
some jelly.
Where do you live? :-)
In Colorado, where quinces are generally pretty thin on the ground. :)
Actually, the jelly didn't set. The recipe said that additional
pectin was unnecessary because quinces have so much natural pectin.
Apparently I got some defective ones. I may have to open up the whole
batch and reboil it with a pouch of pectin. Or use it as pancake
syrup.
|
Me, I'd go for the syrup idea, unless I really and truly *needed* the
jelly. (How could I *need* it? Well, suppose I had promised /n/ jars to
several people for the holidays. I'd have to keep my promise, wouldn't
I?)
Good luck. :-)
--
Maria Conlon |
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PR
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 8:07 am
Post subject: Re: Quince Season |
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Maria Conlon:
| Quote: | I wrote:
Well, it's finished. The four pounds of smiling, fragrant golden
quinces which once sat in a big glass bowl on my counter have been
converted, after a week's worth of deliberating, into six big jars of
clear sparkling quince jelly. It was surprisingly mess-free, though
it was time-consuming. Now I'm having thoughts of lovelier
combinations, such as peach-passionfruit jelly.
[...]
Now I'm thinking of whom to give the jelly to, and what kinds of
things it might go well with. Cooked into an apple pie sounds like a
definite possibility, or maybe glazed over a ham or a chicken.
Just about anyone in aue would be happy to serve as the recipient of
some jelly.
Where do you live? 
|
In Colorado, where quinces are generally pretty thin on the ground. :)
Actually, the jelly didn't set. The recipe said that additional pectin was
unnecessary because quinces have so much natural pectin. Apparently I got
some defective ones. I may have to open up the whole batch and reboil it
with a pouch of pectin. Or use it as pancake syrup.
-P |
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Alan Jones
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 4:08 pm
Post subject: Re: Quince Season |
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"sage" <sage@allstream.net> wrote in message
news:d3wbf.1620$hW.515@tor-nn1...
| Quote: | Ray Heindl wrote:
"PR" <noreply@none.com> wrote:
I've been told that quinces shouldn't be eaten raw because of
their suffocating sourness, but I actually enjoy them that way,
and don't think they are very sour. Am I alone? They have a dry,
rosy apple-like flavor...
The ones that grew in my yard when I were a lad were extremely sour and
hard as rocks -- only to be eaten on a dare. My mouth waters, not in a
good way, just thinking about them. But that quince bush was probably
planted for its ornamental, not gustatorial, qualities. No doubt the
varieties meant for eating are more, um, edible.
They grow like weeds in our garden. Pause. Thinks. Darn it: They *are*
weeds. But the flowers are such a delicate orange colour.
|
I think we must be discussing two distinct sorts of quince.
Here in England I have a Japanese quince (Chaenomeles), a lowish-growing
shrub with dark red flowers, and I imagine that your "delicate orange"
quince must be of the same type. The fruit are fairly small and the shape of
a slightly squashed apple. They can be used for making jelly, but it is pale
and without much flavour.
I also have a quince tree (Cydonia oblonga), which (in the years when it
deigns to oblige me) carries a crop of slightly distorted and woolly large
pear-shaped fruit. These can be sliced into apple pie, which they perfume
very pleasantly; the quince slices are too tough and sour to be enjoyed for
themselves. This type of quince also make excellent jelly - dark pink and
intense in flavour - but needs extra pectin (I add lemon juice). The
flowers, like those of all tree-shaped quinces I've seen in the UK, are pale
pink opening to white, almost luminous in spring sunshine. In a previous
garden I had a wild quince: smaller fruit but more strongly flavoured than
my current "Meech's Prolific". I suspect it was in fact the relic of a
grafted pear, which had died out to leave the quince stock as a tree in its
own right.
Alan Jones |
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Pierre Jelenc
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 9:30 pm
Post subject: Re: Quince Season |
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PR <noreply@none.com> writes:
| Quote: |
Actually, the jelly didn't set. The recipe said that additional pectin was
unnecessary because quinces have so much natural pectin. Apparently I got
some defective ones. I may have to open up the whole batch and reboil it
with a pouch of pectin. Or use it as pancake syrup.
|
That's odd. Did you boil the peel and cores wrapped in cheese-cloth
together with the flesh?
Pierre
--
Pierre Jelenc | New on Home Office Records: Ethan Lipton
| www.homeofficerecords.com www.ethanlipton.com
The Gigometer | Pepper Of The Earth: the HO blog
www.gigometer.com | www.homeofficerecords.com/blog |
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Pierre Jelenc
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2005 7:08 am
Post subject: Re: Quince Season |
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PR <noreply@none.com> writes:
| Quote: |
Indeed I did. I can't explain it. The juice was very syrupy on its own
before I even added the sugar, and I had high hopes. But, those things
happen. I've also heard people say that the jelly should be a beautiful deep
pink, but it is a light gold... I wonder what happened?
|
It was not cooked long enough. The deep red color develops slowly, and
during that time you evaporate some water, which concentrates the pectin.
The old Fanny Farmer cookbook had a test for whether the pectin was
concentrated enough: Mix 1 tsp of grain alcohol (190 proof, Everclear or
the like) with 1 tsp of the fruit extract (before adding the sugar) and
pour the mixture into another glass. If it pours as one firm, transparent
jellied blob, use equal amounts of sugar and cooked juice; if it pours as
two or three blobs, use 2/3 sugar for 1 juice, and if it pours as a soft,
viscous mass, use 1/2 sugar to 1 juice (by weight). Cook then to the jelly
point on a thermometer (220F at sea level) or until it sheets rather than
drops from a spoon. Or test on a teaspoon in the freezer for a minute or
so.
Obviously the less sugar you need, the more you must boil to evaporate
the excess water, and during that time the liquid will turn red.
In your case, since you already have added the sugar, boil it more until
it turns red, and add commercial pectin (carefully, so it does not lump).
If you evaporated enough water to gel it with the existing pectin, it
could get awfully sweet.
Pierre
--
Pierre Jelenc | New on Home Office Records: Ethan Lipton
| www.homeofficerecords.com www.ethanlipton.com
The Gigometer | Pepper Of The Earth: the HO blog
www.gigometer.com | www.homeofficerecords.com/blog |
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PR
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2005 8:06 am
Post subject: Re: Quince Season |
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Pierre Jelenc wrote:
| Quote: | I wrote:
Actually, the jelly didn't set. The recipe said that additional pectin
was
unnecessary because quinces have so much natural pectin. Apparently I
got
some defective ones. I may have to open up the whole batch and reboil it
with a pouch of pectin. Or use it as pancake syrup.
That's odd. Did you boil the peel and cores wrapped in cheese-cloth
together with the flesh?
|
Indeed I did. I can't explain it. The juice was very syrupy on its own
before I even added the sugar, and I had high hopes. But, those things
happen. I've also heard people say that the jelly should be a beautiful deep
pink, but it is a light gold... I wonder what happened? |
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PR
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2005 10:43 pm
Post subject: Re: Quince Season |
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Pierre Jelenc wrote:
| Quote: | In your case, since you already have added the sugar, boil it more until
it turns red, and add commercial pectin (carefully, so it does not lump).
If you evaporated enough water to gel it with the existing pectin, it
could get awfully sweet.
|
Wow, thank you for going to the trouble of giving me tips to fix it. I will
do it, and hopefully I will get a good product! |
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K. Edgcombe
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 12:27 am
Post subject: Re: Quince Season |
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In article <LKsbf.5684$m81.1203@newsread1.news.atl.earthlink.net>,
PR <noreply@none.com> wrote:
| Quote: | Well, it's finished. The four pounds of smiling, fragrant golden quinces
which once sat in a big glass bowl on my counter have been converted, after
a week's worth of deliberating, into six big jars of clear sparkling quince
|
Now then. I grow quinces in my garden, and have been hopelessly disappointed
in them. Everyone tells me they smell wonderful especially when ripe, but mine
never ripen - if I leave them on the tree they rot and eventually fall off; if
I bring them indoors they rot before becoming remotely edible - I can't get a
knife through them, let alone my teeth, so I couldn't eat them raw.
You can poach them, when they taste of very little but are mildly pleasant, or
you can make jelly which in my experience also tastes of very little.
Where is this wonderful scent and flavour that other people go on about?
Katy |
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