[Sca-cooks] Quince & Beginner's Luck

[Judith L. Smith Adams]

Susan Fox <selene at earthlink.net> wrote:    >>>> Quince tangent: MUCH harder to work with than apples. I had one of 
those hand-cranked peeler/corer gadgets which worked for about two and a 
half quinces, then the spikes on which the fruit were impaled broke 
clean off. My SCA nephew Celleach drilled out the nubs and installed 
steel nails instead. That worked on the rest of the quinces and I still 
have the rebuilt cranker to this day!

Selene <<<<

   
  Last fall I was gifted with a half-full shopping bag of quince.  Being more intrepid than systematic sometimes, and having failed dismally in the past to cook quince successfully from a recipe, I winged it and came up with something marvelous.
   
  Selected the ripest quince, scrubbed but did not peel or core them.  Set 'em upright in a baking dish, added a half-cup of water, covered snugly with foil, and baked in 324F oven until tender.  Perfumed the house gloriously.  The cooked quince were dead easy to peel and core, and the baking had brought out their sugars so that they were delicious to eat just as they were.  My traveling friends returned and helped me eat the entire 9 x 13 panful.  I had to bake another batch for paste, which was very good, although I like the chutney even better...
   
  The second batch, made from slightly green fruit, wasn't quite as easy to handle, nor did it taste all that good eaten plainly, but was still easier to work with than peeling raw, and still made excellent cooked, sweetened things.
   
  Looking forward to next quince season...
  Judith

			
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