Quince Sweets

With their pretty fury skins and sour flesh that turns a rich, deep pink when cooked quinces are somewhat of an enigmatic fruit.  Widely used in middle eastern and persian cooking where it is often paired with lamb, the quince is somewhat underutilised in the UK.  Yet it has a long history in british cookery gracing tudor dining tables.

Knobbly Quinces

Perhaps because of the Moorish influence in the culture of Andalucia, in the spanish side of my family the use of quinces is much more normal.  Membrillo is a sweet quince paste that is a common accompaniament to cheese but also just eaten on its own.  When I last made membrillo I swore I'd never do it again.  Although when the quinces are  cooking their delicious flowery perfume fills the house, quinces are hard work. They are tough to chop, have to be boiled for hours, then the pulp gets passes through a sieve to get rid of the seeds and skin before boiling for another couple of hours with sugar until its thick enough to hold its shape and cut into cubes when cold. 

But when my work colleague gave me 2 kilos of quinces from her tree, battle commenced.

Membrillo has just 4 ingredients - Quinces, Water, Sugar and time.

Wash and roughly chop the quinces, but don't peel or core them.  I found cutting through the core really difficult so it was much easier to hack the flesh from around the core and then cut into smaller pieces.  Put the quince in a large pan and just cover with water.  Bring to the boil and then simmer until the quinces are soft and pulpy.  Turn off the heat and leave for a few hours or even overnight.  Pass the pulp through a sieve to remove the fibrous material, skin and pips.  Weigh the pulp and return it to the pan with the same weight of sugar.  Put over a medium heat and stir until the sugar dissolves.  Bring slowly to the boil stiring frequently to stop the paste catching and burning on the bottom of the pan.  Keep simmering the quince paste, stirring to stop it catching on the bottom, until you can pull a spoon through the paste and see the bottom of the pan for a few seconds.   The membrillo will splutter like boiling mud.

Chopped and Ready to Boil

 

Mashed Quinces - don't worry it gets better looking

  

Just a little sugar.....

 

 Beginning to change colour

While you're waiting for the membrillo to cook line some foil trays with greaseproof or waxed paper, ensuring that you leave enough overlap to fully wrap the membrillo.  Tip the quince paste into the lined trays and leave to cool.  Wrap with the paper and store in fridge for 4-6 weeks.

I made 1.5 trays with 2.5 kg quinces.  With the 1/2 tray I decided to turn the paste into sweets.  I happened to have some citric acid in the cupboard from a cheese making kit.  Citric acid mixed with sugar is what makes sour sweets sour.  After much experimentation I decided that a 1:20 mix of citric acid and granulated sugar was about right.  I cut the membrillo into cubes and placed the sugar/citric acid mix in a food bag.  The membrillo cubes were coated with the sugar by droping them into the sugar 5 at a time and shaking them.  I also coated some with icing sugar which gave a finish a bit more like turkish delight.

Cubed quince cheese

Coated with granulated sugar and citric acid

In jars ready to take to work