"Make cheese", said the Quince

In Spain manchego cheese, a hard salty sheep milk cheese is eaten with dulce de membrillo - a sweet red conserve, which we know as quince paste - sounds perfect doesn't it?   In Spain dulce de membrillo is sold in large blocks and slices cut off as you would cheese.  So with my Northland quince I will give a nod to Spain and make Quince Cheese to share with friends.

I have made quince jelly before but never quince cheese (or paste) - cheese in the world of preserves simply means a solid sliceable preserve.   With my large golden quinces on hand I searched through my recipe books and came across quince cheese in "River Cottage Handbook No.2 - Preserves by Pam Corbin".   This seems exactly like the Spanish recipes I found with the exception that they sometimes add a cinnamon stick ...I decided to keep it plain this first time.

Wash the quince and roughly chop the fruit but don't peel or core them.   Place in a large pan and barely cover with water.

 Bring to a simmer and cook until soft and pulpy, adding a little more water if necessary.   Leave to stand for several hours.

I took the pulp out of my metal pot and poured the into a large glass bowl for the
waiting period of several hours.  I left it overnight and made the quince cheese the next night.

Rub the contents through a sieve or mouli and then weigh the pulp and return to a heavy bottomed clean pan, adding an equal weight of sugar.  I don't have scales at the moment, so I measured cup for cup like you do for jelly.  Gently bring to the boil stirring until all the sugar has dissolved. Now it becomes a waiting game.

The quince goes through a transformation from a golden fruit to a rich red over long slow cooking.

You have to stir frequently so that it doesnt stick and burn.   This can take an hour and a bit, so be prepared and have something else to do in the kitchen while watching over the quince.

Starts off yellow

Then begins to turn orange

After an hour it finally starts turning red, thick and glossy.

You have to be diligent in the stirring as it begins to thicken.  It get's very thick and glossy and be careful as it may bubble and splatter like a mud pool or a pot of porridge.   Keep cooking until you can scrape a spoon through it and see the base of the pan for a couple of seconds before the mixture oozes together again.

I decided to make mine like a cheese round to share with friends.  Keep cool, preferably in the fridge, but allow it sit at room temperature before using, so you can enjoy the maximum fruity flavour.

I used a cake tin lined with baking paper and let it set for a day before cutting.  If you have small bowls or ramakins that you can use as a mould, then brush them with a little glycerine to allow the cheeses to be easily released.

The attractively shaped quince cheese from the River Cottage Preserves recipe book and
a small ramakin that could be used as a mould.

Ideally this cheese should be kept for a month before eating to give further depth of flavour...but who can resist?

A perfect set of Quince Cheese wedges ready to be wrapped first
in baking paperand then in foil 

The melon shaped golden quince I got from Northland is probably Pineapple Quince, a tart variety used mainly for preserves.   The Apple Quince I get down south looks more like a nobbly pear with sticky fluff over parts of the skin.  This quince is known to be sweeter.

• Add a quince to any apple dessert, cake or compote for added texture, colour and flavour - just make sure you give the quince a head start and cook slowly for 20 minutes before adding the apple...or if time is a problem grate the quince
• You can add sliced quince with meat in a tagine or slow cooker as it too enjoys a long slow cooking time
• Instead of apple sauce with pork you could try quince sauce 
• Any cores with pips and peel can be boiled up and strained, put into a plastic bottle and stored in the freezer as added pectin for fruit jellies or jams that have lower pectin than quince
• In Chile a dessert favourite is Murta con Membrillo which combines the Ugni Molinae (Chilean guava or as we call it here the New Zealand Cranberry) with quince and sugar
• Quince is lovely baked long and slow under foil so that it turns soft and red.  I do this in a little sugar syrup or just a little water and sprinkled with raw sugar (to your taste); and if you want add either a cinnamon stick or star anise
• Poaching Quince with Vanilla.  I have included a blog by excellent food writer David Le Bovitz's Rosy Poached Quince recipe and his view on quince. Cooked quince sitting in syrup will turn red over time in the fridge
• I am keen to try Otago Farmers Market Baked Quince a recipe from chef Alison Lambert who creates delicious seasonal recipes from a caravan every Saturday at Otago Farmers Market.

Whether it's enjoying quince preserved as dulce de membrillo with cheese in summer heat or using it seasonally poached or baked in the chill of winter, it's a fruit that has been revered through the ages.

The ancient Greeks believed it to be a fruit of love, marriage and fertility and was often given as a wedding gift to the bride to sweeten her breath. In medieval England, imported Membrillo from Spain was prescribed by apothecaries to assist with digestion.

With this in mind, what a lovely gift to give to a bride to be or to serve after a meal either as dessert or with cheese.

















Otago Farmers Market