Last week it was courgettes. This week it’s quince. And pears!
QUINCE
have been waiting for well over a decade for my quince tree (planted 2010) to finally yield more than three or four fruits. This year – as with most fruit – it has been abundant.
There is no doubt that quince marmalade is my favourite. And it is so versatile. You can have it on toast, mixed with apple in an apple pie or crumble. Of course, you can also make membrillo and eat it with Manchego cheese. But, if I make it – I eat it – and that’s not always a good thing! So quince marmalade it is.
For every 2kg of prepared fruit you will need 1kg of sugar (I like my quince marmalade tart so add a bit more if you wish. It’s not a precise science!) and either 6g powdered pectin or the juice of two lemons. I use pectin.
Cut the quince in half, lengthways, and use a teaspoon to carve out the core and the seeds. Keep these. Then peel, chop the flesh into 1cm dice and put in a large bowl with about 20mllemon juice in it and this will prevent the fruit going brown.
Put the core and seeds in a muslin bag (or use a re-usable mesh vegetable bag often found in supermarkets to save using plastic bags). The seeds in particular are full of pectin. Put the muslin bag in a heavy based saucepan with the string looped round the handle. Add the water, bring to the boil and let it bubble away for about 2 hours. I often do this the night before, leaving the mesh bag in the saucepan overnight. The following morning, squeeze the bag firmly to extract as much juice/pectin as you can and then discard. Keep the liquid.
Add the chopped fruit. Bring slowly to the boil then bubble away for about 20 minutes. If you have a jam thermometer – you are aiming to reach about 105C. If you are a seasoned jam maker you will probably have a couple of saucers in the fridge and after about 20 minutes boiling, you can check the ‘setting point’ by
– observing the marmalade as it cooks and noticing it becoming less liquid
– observing when the bubbling mixture changes consistency and ‘rolls’ rather than ‘bubbles’
– Lifting your wooden spoon out of the pan and noticing when the mixture attached to it ‘drops’ as opposed to ‘pours’ off the spoon
– putting a teaspoon of the hot marmalade on a cold saucer, waiting a couple of minutes and pushing it with your fingers. It should resist and wrinkle.
If none of these methods are indicating it is ready (ie reached or is close to reaching setting point), boil it for another 5 minutes and repeat.
Warm the jars you intend to use. Take the marmalade off the heat. Decant into the warm jars. Put wax circles on top when cool, and lids on when cold.
PEARS
I have a beautiful ‘Robin pear’ tree which is prolific every year. I have to fence it off because Ted the dog is partial to snaffling them!
Apart from poaching pears, I love to smoke them. I had a smoker as a gift a good few years ago and it is wonderful for smoking fish, cheese, chicken, and pears!
I harvested about 15kg this year and half of them went into the de-humidifier (Who knew there was a de-humidifying function on the air fryer? I only discovered it two years ago). I wash and dry the pears. Halve or quarter them length-ways depending on size then dehumidify them for about 18 hours till they are just soft but not crisp. Then I light up the smoker and smoke about 400g at a time for about 30 minutes. They come out looking like leather but they are wonderful on a cheese-board with nuts, gorgeous in a venison casserole, and absolutely splendid chopped on top of caramel icecream!
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