The flip side of October

[hrj]

Between the various fires, the winds whipping up dust, and the desperate dryness of the air, my sinuses have gone on strike. I haven't quite gotten to the point of dosing myself, since I'd rather be in pain than be sleepwalking all day. And yet, my brain has shifted over into Autumn mode. I find myself staring longingly at bags of lamb soup bones at the farmers' market, dreaming of steaming stockpots. There's something about simmering a pot of bones into soup that just makes me go all gooey inside.

I'm also in the middle of turning this year's quince crop into quince paste (for 12th night presents). For a bit of variety, I'm doing up batches of a dozen little cakes each with various additives. So far it's quince & almond, and quince & hazelnut. There's enough for at least two dozen more, maybe three, so I'll have to come up with more ideas. Hmm, come to think of it, if I want to continue on the nut additives, I've got lots of that pistachio flour still, and the chestnut flour could work, although it's a much finer texture than any of the other nuts I've used. Yes, that should fill out the set nicely, with the remainder being plain. (And no, even though I'm planning these for 12th night presents, I'm not aware of the nut-quince mixtures having a medieval basis, just the plain quince paste.) The results are a bit darker than commercial quince paste -- I'm guessing the commercial varieties may use some sort of anti-oxidizing additive. I think once I managed a quince jelly that was a pale rosy-orange like the commercial stuff. These, of course, have pulp in them, so they're much more opaque. I think I'll have to get some distinctively colored cellophane bags to package them in so I can tell the additives apart.

Comments

[countess-e.livejournal.com]

If you'd feel inclined to share recipes? That would be lovely. I have an enormous tree full of quinces in the front yard and am always on the lookout for new and exciting things to do with them, and yours sound nummy.

[hrj.livejournal.com]

The recipe is extremely simple. Take into account that my quince is actually an ornamental flowering quince rather than one intended as fruit. The fruit is quite tasty, but not as large, so you spend more effort in coring and peeling.

1. Quarter and core your quinces. Peel, and reserve the peelings.
2. Simmer the peels in water to cover until ... well, until dissolved. Strain through a jelly cloth. (I do this to extract extra pectin, not that there's any shortage of pectin involved.)
3. Use the liquid from step 2 to cook the quinces until they turn into mush.
4. Measure the resulting mush.
5. Add an equal volume of sugar as you have quince mush.
6. Simmer over a very low heat until the sugar is dissolved and the mush reduces a bit. I use a crock pot (w/o lid) to avoid scorching.

Here's the point where I got creative.

7. Mix 1 part ground nuts or nut flour with 2 parts quince mush.
8. (This next bit is descriptive rather than prescriptive.) Using a non-stick muffin pan, put a heaping tablespoonful of quince mixture in each cup. Smooth with the back of a spoon.
9. Set the oven on the lowest setting possible and prop the door open a crack. Let the paste dry about 24 hours.
10. When the top is solid and dry to the touch, carefully pry the paste away from the sides and lift the disk out (a fork slipped underneath works well), then place it dry side down on a baking sheet and return to the oven for at least another 24 hours.

I making small patties since they're for token holiday presents, but you could make a larger slab for your own use (or for more than a token).