Quinces need time to be tantalising; it’s not one for the lunch box. This is a great way of turning your determinedly firm quinces into soft, sumptuous fruits that you can use in a myriad of different ways. When the ground is covered in fallen leaves and the evenings are slightly cool, the smell of this wafting from the kitchen is unimaginably warming.
You will need:
3 medium quinces
300ml water
3 tbsp runny honey
1 star anise
(Lemons)
You will also need a very sharp knife, determination and a whole lot of lemons. Once exposed to the air the flesh of a quince browns like no other; blink and you’ll think your quince has been replaced by a muddy potato. To prevent this you need to put lemon juice on everything the quince is likely to touch; chopping board, knife and even the quince itself. It’s also advisable to squeeze some lemon juice into a bowl of water to store the quinces when they’ve been peeled.
Peel and quarter the quinces and remove the seeds. Put each quince into the acidulated water while you attempt the next. Remove the quinces from the water and put into an oven proof dish with the water, honey and star anise. Bake in the oven for around two hours at 170C or until soft. It takes a surprisingly long time to bake a quince into submission.
When the quinces are done you can use them and the honeyed spiced syrup in so many different ways: put them into porridge, serve them with cream or yoghurt, add to a rice pudding or just enjoy them as they are. They not only make the house smell amazing as they cook but the taste is reminiscent of antiquated times. It’s hard to explain what a quince tastes like; I’d go for almost tropical mixed with pear. Despite them being hard to find, a devil to get in to and laborious to cook, there’s nothing else quite like it.
Lovely! I now have a good few kilos of windfalls and am looking forward to baking and infusing them into submission!!!
How lovely, to me quince tastes of exotic perfume, I agree with you, until you try it you cannot really imagine the extraordinary flavour. My only issue is that I cannot bear the smell of them cooking so will have to just enjoy them cooked by someone else!
What is that quince? Looks like a pear..
I have never come across this fruit before and it sure looks delicious. I enjoy reading your blog just to learn more about food I don’t get locally….
High maintenance fruit! You’ve described the taste well – it is exactly like a tropical pear.
I would love to try this fruit it looks so delicious 😀
Cheers
CCU
I’ve never been able to soften quince pears. I should follow your method. I love the smell of star anise
Surprisingly for a Foodie like me, I have never prepared a Quince, and I have only ever eaten them when made into Membrillo (in which form I have to say, it is VERY nice!). I doesn’t sound easy to do, so I admire your valiant efforts!
Mmm… this is new one! Quite interesting though. I love the photograph of the honey. Very professional.
That honey sounds like the perfectly way to enjoy quince – something I don’t eat much of.
that sounds so lovely. I probably would very happily just enjoy them as they are! (:
Quince is something that you don’t see used very often. This looks very delicious and seasonal! I like it a lot.
Sounds great and I love seeing a receipe using Quince which I don’t see often.
Drooooll. More honey puh leeze! These look incredible. I need to spread out to a wider variety of fruit more often!
I haven’t ever used quince. This sounds like a really interesting flavour combo. Hope you are having a good week.
This one is a winner Caroline. I bet it pairs really well with the star anise. Deliciously comforting!
Sounds really nice, the spiced syrup must taste delicious especially with the touch of the star anise.
I’ll have mine with cream. Lovely dessert!!!
It looks really great prepared with honey and star anise. A great dessert.
I just bought a quince today! Perfect timing 🙂