25 October 2006

Consider the quince in hot weather


Quince trees are so generous that every year I throw many fruits into the freezer whole, which means exactly that—no fussy stuff.

Continuing with Nothing Fussy:
The other day I pulled out enough quinces to cover the bottom of a big pot, let them thaw in it, covered them with water and simmered till they were quite tender, then let them sit in the pot for two days in the fridge. The liquor is thick and delicious, more refreshing than, but otherwise like an unfiltered apple juice.

You might wonder how much sugar to use. My personal answer is: 0. Freezing quinces makes them taste sweeter when they are defrosted; and when you don't add sugar, you can taste the quince as quince much more than you can when you add sweeteners. I'm not anti-sweeteners, by the way, and love eating good preserves straight from a glass, or with a piece of cheese.

But back to these quinces. They are good cold or at room temperature, but I refroze some of these stewed quinces with their liquor for the next hot day, which was only days ago. Eating them half frozen, and drinking that cold cold liquor made me almost long for the next hot day.

To really bring out their sweetness, a squeeze of fresh lemon is superb (to my taste, that is).

1 comment:

Ramie said...


thanks for your idea. I will put a few in the freezer!