Quince (Cydonia oblonga)

Leer en español.

And just like that, two months have passed and the summer is long gone. It's now time to harvest, preserve, and prepare the garden for winter. And a great ingredient of autumn preserves is the quince, a fruit that is now one of my season's kitchen classics, together with squash, apples, and chestnuts. 

I've now learned that quinces are are also grown in some mountainous areas of my native Costa Rica, but I never saw them or tried them there. It wasn't until my wedding celebration at a lovely traditional German restaurant five years ago that I first saw a tree full of the strange pear-shaped fruits, and started asking questions. As a funny coincidence, the house we moved to a few weeks later also had a quince tree in the garden, and it was then that I learned how to use them (and also had many left to give away). 

We no longer live in the house with the quince tree, but I still manage to get a yearly supply that is enough for my kitchen needs, thanks to a friend that has a tree in her garden, and also to a few trees found in neighboring areas. Unless you have access to a tree, it is difficult to come across quinces, as they have grown quite uncommon and are rarely sold in shops or markets. 

Quinces are native to Western Asia, and I read that in places such as Turkey they are still grown commercially. They are wonderfully aromatic and can be prepared in many ways, but are not really good to be eaten raw (although I've heard that in Chile some people eat them raw with salt, like we do in Costa Rica with green mangos).

There are a few different varieties of quinces, but they can mainly distinguished in two types: pear-shaped and apple shaped. When the fruit is ripe (usually around October in the Northern Hemisphere) it turns bright yellow and is covered with a soft hair that can be removed by rubbing it with a towel. The flesh is hard and can be a bit hard to cut, but everything is possible with a good knife and some strength. 

Pear-shaped quinces from a nearby tree. 

I have not really studied the nutritional or medicinal properties of the quince, but from using it I've learned that the seeds are very mucilaginous (this also gives great consistency to jams and jellies), so it makes sense that they could be used in situations where the soothing and emollient action of mucilage can be helpful. Some medicinal uses cited include internally for respiratory diseases, and externally for minor burns or wounds. The raw fruit and its juice are also very astringent, and could thus be used for cases where tannins are applied (such as mouth ulcers or sore throats).

My uses for the quince include many types of jellies (for example quince-ginger, quince-apple or quince-orange), a sweet/sour chutney with chili, quince syrup (great mixed with sparkling water), an excellent quince vinegar (prepared in a similar way to my apple cider vinegar), and also quince paste, a sweet that I've learned is very popular in Spain (combined with Manchego cheese) and in some South American countries. 

Apple-shaped quinces and a German recipe for quince paste.

To prepare the quince paste, you just clean the fruits well to remove the plush, cut them in pieces, remove the cores and seeds, and cook them for about 30 minutes in a pot with a bit of water, until the flesh turns soft. After cooking, the fruit can be pureed or passed through a food mill (very useful kitchen utensil that in German goes by the great name of "Flotte Lotte"). The fruit puree is then cooked with a lot of sugar, some lemon juice, and a lot of patience. I used to cook it for hours while constantly stirring, but experience has now taught me that the cooking time can be significantly shortened (to about 20-30 minutes) if, instead of stirring all the time, one lets it boil undisturbed for a little while (always vigilant so it doesn't burn on the bottom of the pot), stirs it a bit and then lets it boil again. Another trick is to use sugar with pectin, which here in Germany comes in different versions that reflect how much sugar to use relative to the amount of fruit (1:1, 2:1 or 3:1), which is great if one wants to reduce sugar consumption. 

The process of preparing the quince paste. 

When the mixture has darkened and you can see the bottom of the pot when stirring, it's time to put it in a mold and let it cool. The paste usually reaches its typical hard consistency and full red color once it's cold.

I'd like to finish with this interesting bit of information that I learned while researching for this post: the word "marmalade" comes from the Portuguese "marmelo", which actually is the Portuguese word for quince.