More quince recipes

Back in 2008, I wrote about my new quince tree and its first harvest of five large quinces. The tree is now established and after several lean years, it has gone back to its former munificence, providing us with two large pickings of fruit which weigh at least 1lb each. A mature tree can produce nearly one hundred fruit.

It’s hard to know what to make with such quantities, so I have been scouring the modern and ancient recipe books to discover new ways of preserving the delicious flavour.

 (I’m not American, so I don’t finish any of my jams or jellies in a water bath. There’s no need. The sugar acts as a preservative. If you reduce the amount of sugar, then you may need to use a different method to ensure the jelly will keep safely.)

Quince Chips (from the receipt book of Lady Anne Blencowe interpreted by Christina Stapley)

Quinces

Golden castor sugar

Large ovenproof dish

Pan of boiling water

Place whole quinces into a saucepan, cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Boil for one minute then remove. Peel, core and slice the quinces thinly. Scatter them with golden castor sugar one at a time so they don’t become discoloured as they are exposed to the air. Lay the quince slices onto a large, ovenproof dish, turn them and scatter with sugar again. Place the dish over a pan of boiling water until the sugar has melted. Spoon all the melted sugar and the quince slices into the centre of the dish and heat until the sugar forms thick, white foam. Having made sure the quince slices are covered with syrup, set them one at a time at the edge of the dish to dry a little, before dipping them again. When the slices have taken up all the syrup, remove the dish from the heat and set the quince chips in a warm place to dry before packing in boxes.

 

Quince jelly

Quinces

Sugar

Spices (Ginger, 3-6 cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon) optional

Muslin and either somewhere to hang it from or a large frame

Small, sterilised jam jars and lids

Remove any brown sections from the quinces and chop into small pieces. If you are just making jelly, you don’t need to peel and core the fruit. If you want the flesh to make membrillo, then do this first. Place the chopped fruit in a large stainless steel pan.

Cover the fruit with cold water, bring to the boil and simmer on the lowest heat for up to five hours. Place the muslin over a separate basin or large saucepan, making sure you can retrieve the four corners of the muslin. Lift up the muslin and either attach to a frame or suspend from a hook (I use the handle of the extractor fan above the hob). Tie the ends of the muslin securely and leave to drip overnight.

The next morning, either compost the spent quince flesh or set it aside to make the membrillo.

Measure the amount of liquid and return it to a suitably large saucepan. Add either one pound of sugar per pint of liquid or 1kg of sugar per litre of liquid. Bring to a rolling boil stirring continuously for at least ten minutes then test for a setting point every five minutes. Quince jelly can be cantankerous. Don’t be surprised if it takes at least half an hour to reach a set. Don’t walk away in despair and leave it on a high heat. It will boil over. (Ask me how I know this!) Once a set is reached, pour the jelly into small, sterilised jam jars and seal the lids.

Quince cheese from ‘The Complete Book of Vegetables, Herbs and Fruit’ by Biggs, McVicar and Flowerdew

2lbs quince

2 lbs sugar

1 small unwaxed orange

1 or 2 drops orange flower or rose petal water (optional)

Roughly chop the quinces into pieces. Finely chop the orange and simmer both together with just enough water to cover them until they are a pulp. Strain the pulp and add its own weight in sugar. Bring to the boil and cook gently for approximately 1 ½ hrs. Add the orange or rose water if desired. Then pot into warm, oiled pots, seal and store for three months or more before using. Turn the cheese out of the bowl and slice for serving with cooked meats or savoury dishes.

Two recipes from the New Edition of Mrs Beeton’s Every Day Cookery given to my great-aunt for Christmas in 1931

Quince Blancmange

1lb ripe quinces

6 ozs castor sugar

¾ oz gelatine

¼ pt double cream

1pt water

Peel and core the quinces, simmer them in the water until quite soft and broken but not reduced to a pulp. Strain through a jelly bag. Replace the liquor in the pan, add the sugar and the gelatine previously soaked in a little cold water. Stir and boil gently until the gelatine is dissolved. When cool, add the cream, mix well and turn into a mould, rinsed with cold water. Serves 4-5.

Quince Marmalade

To each lb of quince pulp allow ¾ lb loaf sugar or preserving sugar. If making apple and quince marmalade, use equal parts of quince and apple puree.

Pare the fruit then place in a preserving pan with as much water as will just cover the bottom of the pan and stew gently until reduced to a pulp. Pass through a sieve. Weigh the pulp, put it back into the cleaned pan, add the sugar and cook very gently until the marmalade sets quickly when tested on a cold plate. Place in sterilised jam jars, seal and date.

When I made this, I failed to read the instructions correctly (always a good start!). I simmered the quince for one and a half hours until it was well stewed but didn’t pass it through a sieve. I added a heaped pint measure of quince to the same amount of apple, then brought it to a rolling boil for ten minutes and didn’t turn the heat off during the five minutes it took to cool and set like concrete on a cold saucer. It was beginning to catch on the bottom of the pan but didn’t ruin the marmalade. It tastes great!

Quince Vodka

Quinces

Sugar

Spices (optional)

Vodka

Large clean glass jam jars with lids

Peel and core the quinces and chop or slice into small pieces suitable to fill the jam jar. Pour in some sugar depending how sweet you like your liqueur. Add spices. (I usually just add ginger and a few cloves so the flavour of the quince isn’t hidden.) Add vodka, removing any air bubbles and dissolving the sugar by podging with a chopstick. Seal, label and date. Keep in a cool dark place for three months or longer. This recipe can be made with layers of quince and pear or quince and apple.

Several family members and friends much prefer gin to vodka and several have diabetes so this year I have put up some Quince Gin without any sweetening.

Quince Gin

Peel, core and chop enough quinces to fill a large jam jar. Add chopped root ginger and a star anise plus 3-5 cloves. Fill the jar with gin, stirring well to remove air bubbles. Seal, label and date and leave in a cool, dark place until Christmas. Decant and serve.

Quince Ratafia (recipe provided by Jane Birkett)

1 large quince

1 large jam jar

Brown sugar

1/4tsp each cinnamon, ginger and mace

Vodka or brandy

Wash quince to remove fur. Grate quince without peeling or coring into a jar. Fill one third of the way up the jar with brown sugar. Add spices and spirit. Stir to remove air bubbles and dissolve sugar. Seal, label and date. Leave in a dark place for at least a month. 2-3 months is best.

 

 

What to do with oranges

Here in the UK it is the season of marmalade-making. The word "marmalade" originally referred to a dish made from quince but over time quinces were replaced by oranges and the national British breakfast preserve was invented.

Citrus plants originated in China and South East Asia several thousand years ago. The first written mention of oranges comes from Arabic scholars who called it naranj.  Both the common and official names are derived from the Sanskrit nagaranga which means “fruit which elephants like”.

Oranges have been a staple part of British diets since the 17^th Century. King Charles II came across Nell Gwynn when she was selling oranges to theatre goers before she became his mistress and mother of his children.

Unless you suffer from orange-triggered migraines, oranges form part of most household’s daily fruit intake either as a morning juice or a snack. They are renowned for their high levels of vitamin C but less well known for their medicinal and cosmetic uses.

Most sweet oranges (Citrus aurantium var.dulcie) are grown for their sweet segments and juice. My favourites are the large fruits from Israel which arrive in the shops during December and January. There is also a bergamot orange, the peel of which provides the flavouring to Earl Grey tea.

Orange Skin Tonic

Barbara Griggs tells us that oranges are really good for the skin. She suggests taking the pulp of an orange and blending until it becomes a smooth puree. This paste can then be applied to the skin of newly washed face, neck and hands. It should be left on for 20 minutes before washing off with tepid water. Your skin can feel rejuvenated from absorbing not only vitamin C, but also beta-carotene and the complex of bioflavonoids called Vitamin P which strengthens capillaries and prevents “unsightly broken veins”.

Grated orange rind can be mixed with natural yoghurt to make a moisturising face mask to revitalise skin.

Pomanders

Oranges have a long history of keeping rooms and clothes smelling sweet by covering them with cloves and allowing to dry naturally. It is a lengthy process of making holes in the orange skin, pressing in the clove until the whole surface area is filled. The pomander can then be rubbed with ground cloves and salt and hung up with ribbons until dry.

Apart from eating, orange have been used primarily for perfumery and flavouring through the production of essential oils and other distillates such as orange flower water. Leaves, flowers and fruit can be used, the flowers producing Neroli essential oil and the leaves and young shoots produce “petitgrain”.  They also have medicinal qualities

Orange leaves make a mild herb tea with sedative effects. It is also diaphoretic which can raise body temperature into a sweat if help is required to break a fever.

In Mrs Grieve’s time, an infusion of dried flowers was used as a mild nervous stimulant by European herbalists.

Orange flower water, a by-product of Neroli essential oil production, can be used for headaches, flavouring any kind of cooking or baking and is gentle enough to relieve colic in babies.

Orange peel is gaining in popularity as a general bitter. As most people suffer with “bitter deficiency”, orange peel can be added to formulas to provide a cooling and bitter principle. I’ve added fresh peel to elixirs, infused honeys and spiced flax seed tea but you do have to take care not to add a large amount if the peel is dried or the bitterness can become unpalatable.

Seville orange, or bitter orange (Citrus aurantium var.amara), has a very short window of availability. They appear in UK shops for approximately three weeks at the end of January. They look unappetising as the growers are not allowed to wax their skin but are snapped up by marmalade lovers across the country in order to make their favourite breakfast preserve.

Marmalade

6 Seville oranges

3 sweet oranges

3 lemons

3 pts (UK) water

3 lbs sugar

Slice all fruit as thinly as possible removing pips. Place pips in a cup and cover with boiling water and soak for 24 hours. Place fruit in an earthenware bowl, cover with 5 pts water and leave to soak for 24 hrs. Tip into saucepan with pips suspended in a muslin bag. Boil gently until peel is tender (about ¾ hr). Remove pips. Add sugar. Boil quickly until a set is obtained then stop all heating and pour into sterilised jars.

Marmalade is not the only product of Seville oranges. You can also make a delicious digestive bitter using cardomoms, honey and diced peel. It is one of the most popular “tastes” I offer when I am giving herbal demonstrations.

Seville Orange  bitter

Slice your Seville oranges and squeeze out the juice. Use the juice to make a jelly later. Dice the peel and loosely fill an empty jam jar with the diced peel, a tablespoonful of cardamon pods and a few fennel or anise seeds. If you wish, add not more than two cloves. Add a tablespoon of honey. Mix this with the peel. Fill the jar up with vodka and “podge” with a chopstick to remove air bubbles. Refill the jar with vodka, seal, label and date. Keep in a dark cupboard for a month to infuse, shaking occasionally, then strain off and bottle the liquid. Take half a teaspoonful  15-30 minutes before meals to improve digestion.

If you wish to be frugal, you can use the peel again with fresh spices and honey to make a further bitter.

Orange peel vinegar

You can also use any orange (or lemon or grapefruit) peel to make a versatile household cleaner with white wine vinegar. Place the diced peel in a glass jar, cover with vinegar, seal, label and date. Leave for three weeks to infuse in a warm dark place, then strain and use in dilution with bicarbonate of soda to clean sinks, baths, worktops and ovens. If you inadvertently taste the vinegar it is incredibly bitter!

References

Bruton-Seal, J & Seal, M Kitchen Medicine: Household Remedies for Common Ailments and Domestic Emergencies  2010 Merlin Unwin Books Ltd ISBN 978 1 906122188

Grieve, M A Modern Herbal 1973 (revised) Random House ISBN 1-904779018

Griggs, B The Greenwitch: A Modern Women’s Herbal 1993 Random House Publishing Ltd ISBN 0 09 182681 0