[Sca-cooks] quince question - BLETTING!

[Samia al-Kaslaania]

Hi Chimene , 

I've only ever used quince cooked. We slice it and candy it like ginger. It
turns a lovely orangey-pink color and the taste is ambrosia. Easy enough to
do for one quince. 

Samia

-----Original Message-----
Actually, quinces can be used before rotting.  I have worked with both
flowering quince (Chaenomeles) and fruiting quince (Cydonia) and the fruits
were not "bletted;" when I bought them at the grocery store they weren't
bletted either.  As to one small quince....probably best to use for the
pectin to set other types of fruit jellies/jams.  Or you can look around
your neighborhood to see if anyone else has any and combine them.  

Nancy Kiel
> 
> well fiddle-de-de-de!  retting is for linen, BLETTING is for
"rotting-ripe"! o-watta-goos-iyam! came to me as I was washing dishes.
> thx,ch
> 
> On Nov 15, 2015, at 4:30 PM, Patricia Dunham <chimene at ravensgard.org>
wrote:
> 
> > We were amazed to find an actual quince fruit on our decorative
flowering quince in the middle of the summer!
> > 
> > I know (theoretically) that quinces are among those fruit that ripen by
the rather weird process called "retting", which involves ALMOST letting the
fruit rot! 
> > 
> > Can anyone advise about how to identify the magical moment between ret
and rot, and what one might usefully be able to do with ONE small quince
(let's see, it's now at 74g or 2 & 5/8 oz; about an inch-and-a-half to 2
inches diameter). The surface is slowly wrinkling up, feels sort of waxy to
the touch, smells wonderful, of course, is completely dry at this point.
It's been in the house at least a month, I have it in a small glass dessert
cup, in a wire hanging basket, so it's getting good air circulation, but
won't drip liquid on anything, if it goes squishy without my noticing.
> > 
> > Any info gladly received, THANKS!
> > 
> > Chimene in Adiantum
>