Spiced Quince Butter

Since first happening on quinces at Clarkdale Fruit Farms a few years ago, I have made this quince butter every November. It is astoundingly good. I like it on toast, but it's also great in jam print cookies or in almost any dessert recipe where you might use jam. Also excellent with a bit of aged cheddar or some goat cheese.

I make this in the pressure cooker, adapting a recipe from Deborah Madison's Local Flavors cookbook. But you could also do it on the stovetop - it will just take longer. Quinces are a very hard fruit and take longer to cook than their cousins, apples and pears.

This recipe is suitable for canning, which is what I do with it each year. The quince butter will also keep for many weeks in the fridge, perhaps months if you put it straight into a clean jar and let it seal itself as the butter cools in the refrigerator. Or you can freeze it.

4 cups cut up quinces, peeled and seeded and any bad parts cut out
1/2 cup water
1 cinnamon stick
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 cup sugar (or to taste)

Place the quince pieces, water, cinnamon stick, ginger, and nutmeg in the pressure cook. Bring to pressure, then cook for 15 minutes. Once the cooker comes up to pressure, lower the heat until it is just enough to maintain pressure, to avoid burning the quinces. After 15 minutes, remove from heat and let pressure release naturally.

Remove the cinnamon stick from the cooked quince. Mash the fruit thoroughly or run it through a food mill or blender to make it smooth. Add sugar and simmer over low heat until it reaches a nice jammy consistency.

Pour into jars, then refrigerate, freeze, or can.

Makes 3-4 cups.

Quinces

On his last trip to Clarkdale for apples and pears, my husband also picked up some quinces, which I didn't know they grew.

My prior experience with quinces is limited - out in California, some friends had a neighbor with a big bush of them and served us up some for dessert, cooked with a bit of sugar. They had a lovely, spicy flavor; I found it hard to believe my friend had not added spices. Quinces are inedible raw, though. They smell incredible - a sweet, intoxicating scent - but are tough and astringent unless cooked.

The only one of my cookbooks that does more than mention quinces in passing, if at all, is Deborah Madison's Local Flavors. She offers several recipes and, helpfully, notes that quince cooked in syrup will keep in the fridge for months (you could also can it), so that you can easily add a bit to apple pies, pear tarts, etc. She also says that a long-steeped infusion of quince seeds and peels is good for a sore throat.

I have not yet had a chance to experiment with the quinces Donovan bought, but the good news is that unless bruised or damaged, ripe quinces will keep for a long time. For now they are pleasantly scenting my dining room from the fruit bowl. If you're intrigued, pick some up yourself - I am not sure how long they will be available.