Oi! The church bells of St. Myllin's rang out on Friday evening, not as part of the Sunday service, nor for Monday's practice, but for the crop harvest. The bells traditionally rang to give thanks for the bounty, and to ensure the preservation of the gathered crop.
So I thought I'd better get to work harvesting quinces from my garden, and make that quince paste (membrillo) and jelly I've been meaning to try. My quinces were small and hard, with lots of pips and minimal flesh. Still worth a try, I thought.
I plucked this heavy load in no time - the aroma is floral and fruity, so fresh!
I washed them all thoroughly - only 2 sowbugs, 2 snails, no worms or tunnels, and very little decay/degradation to avoid or cut away.
This is what they look like on the inside - no real flavor sampling was done though, as they're too hard, astringent and sour to be appreciated raw. It looks like a combination of a pear and an apple, and there are a lot of pips, which look a bit like popcorn kernels.
I decided not to peel them - that was just too much! The smell of them cooking is heavenly!
I drained off the juice, then added sugar for the jelly (left). The flesh went through the blender, and was then slow simmered with sugar to make a purée.
The jelly turned out well - it turns rosy pink during the cooking process. It's a tasty new flavor for our palette.
The membrillo paste had to be left overnight in the oven to dry out more. We sampled some with cheese and crackers - reviews were positive!
Voilà! My first membrillo, or quince cheese ("a sweet and tart, thick jelly made of the pulp of the quince fruit. It is a common confection in several countries" - Quince cheese).
The color of the paste is a little 'off' (not rosy pink) because I included the skins in my purée.
This turned out to be a fun fall project. Though I really enjoyed trying something new and feeling successful at it, it was very messy and tedious. Everything was sticky afterwards - the purée bubbled up and exploded up into the hood filter and backsplash at one point when I chatted to a neighbor, and even the underside of my shoes made a tacky sound, so I had to mop the floor as well.
The purée is excellent stirred into yoghurt - ooh, man!
