Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Quince paste or Quince bread?













We received these wonderful quince pastes from Beatrice a dear friend who visited us for dinner last Friday. Her mother had made them. These goodies take some time till they are ready to eat as the paste first has to dry to the right consistency and this may last for days. I know that this is an old way to process quinces and I also know that in earlier days these were eaten at Christmas time. As I love recipes of earlier days I appreciate this gift a lot. Another friend of mine told me that they are perfect when eaten together with cheese as a dessert (for instance instead of pears). Beatrice is of German origin and they call this delicacy quince bread. This was very new to me but I like the idea.

Here comes the recipe.
 I cannot guarantee though that they will taste as beautifully as the one from Beatrice's mother ;o)

1 kg quinces
500 g sugar

1) Wash, peel, quarter, core the quinces. Keep the cuttins. Cut the quarters in slices.
2) Add the cuttins with 5 dl of water to a pan and simmer for about 1 hour. After simmering the liquid contains lots of pectin. Sieve and add to the quince slices.
3) At the same time: Add the quince slices to a second pan together with 8 dl water and cook until soft (about 45 minutes).
4) Now add the stewed fruits to a moulin-légume (I hope you know what this is!) and make a puree. Put this puree into a thin cloth and squeeze it back into the pan.
5)Add 500 g sugar to the puree. Boil down until the puree comes off the bottom of the pan. It takes time. I recommend gloves as it may splatter and the mixture is hot!
6) Put the mixture on the back of baking tray. Smooth out and let it cool a little until lukewarm. 
7) Then tip it on a baking sheet which you have sprinkled with sugar and roll it out with a rolling pin (about 1 cm).
8) Cut in squares, put on a cooling rack and let dry for at least two days (when I made them it took about 8 days).


Lots of work, isn't it? It is worth the effort and it certainly is a special little present. 
By the way Beatrice's mum has also added a little bit of kirsch and that made it even more delicious! 

I hope you started  happily into this new week!

♥ Emilie's daughter 

PS. Do not forget to participate in the lottery!



2 comments:

  1. Hello Christa:
    What a lovely gift to receive. We always feel that something handmade, and done so with love and thought, is amongst the nicest of things to be given.

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  2. This is called "marmellata di mele cotogne" or "cotognata", in Italian. I had it once, when I was a little girl, in Italy, cut into small cubes, all wrapped up in a silver foil packet. i wonder who made it? I still remember the flavour...

    Last year I got hold of some quince and I tried a recipe I found on the net, but... it didn't work!

    Yours loks beautiful... like jelly shapes, only, made using natural ingredients... gorgeous!

    ANNA

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