QUINCES ARE HERE

New Zealand Listener, Volume 14, Issue 354, 5 April 1946, Page 26

QUINCES ARE HERE

UINCES, with their rather pungent flavour, come as a pleasant contrast to the blander peaches and apricots we have been enjoying. They are a rather dry fruit, so may be used in conjunction with moister ones, such as tomatoes, apples, and pie melon. They are very good, too, with blackberries. Try a casserole dish of apples, quinces and blackberries, in any proportion you like, or in several varied ones. Barely cover with water, sweeten with honey, or sugar, and cook in the oven, with lid on. Serve with a thin custard sauce; or with junket. Another delicious fruit dessert is just plain sliced quinces flavoured with cloves; and coloured a deep red. Fruit cooked in the oven like this has always a richer flavour. When fine sago is again obtainable sprinkle the fruit with a little, to make it just slightly thickened. Some people use arrowroot, but it is not so nice as sago. Quince Conserve (very good) Three pounds quinces, 12 cups water, 6lb. sugar. For small quantity 1 cup minced quince, 3 cups quince water, 3 cups sugar. The secret is rapid boiling _after quince is added to sugar and water mixture. Wash and dry quinces. Cut in halves. Place in pan, cover with water, and boil till tender. Remove quinces from water, and when cool, peel and core them, putting the peeling and cores back into the water. Boil this up for a few minutes, and strain through fine sieve, saving the water. Chop up or mince the peeled quinces. Measure the saved water and make it up to 12 cups altogether with boiling water. Add to it the 6lb. sugar, bring to boil, stirring till | dissolved. Boil for 2 or 3 minutes, then add the chopped quinces, which should measure 4 cups full. Boil all now very rapidly-a rolling boil-until it will set when tested-approximately 20 to 30 minutes. It will turn colour when done. Another Quince Conserve Peel, core and cut quinces into eighths. Weigh. Put into a basin. Allow 1 pint water and 1b. sugar to each llb. fruit. Boil sugar and water 5 minutes, and pour boiling on to the quinces. Leave all night. Boil all together 2 to 3 hours or till it will set when tested. It is a lovely red. You can flavour with clove essence. Quince, Tomato and Ginger Jam (Lyall Bay Lady) One pound quinces, 1441b. tomatoes, 2¥alb. sugar, 2 teaspoons ginger essence. Peel and core quinces; put peels and cores in pan with 1 cup water and let boil till reduced to about half. Warm the sugar in a meat-dish in the oven. Skin the tomatoes and chop up. Grate the quinces on the carrot section of the grater. Put all ingredients in together, including strained juice from quince peelings and cores, in the preserving pan. Boil fast for the first half hour, then turn heat lower and boil about

another hour, or till it will set when tested. It is a lovely amber jelly. Quince and Pie Melon Jam Five pounds melon, 3lb. quinces, 61b. sugar. Peel the melon, remove seeds and cut into dice. Sprinkle half the sugar over melon, and leave all night. Next morning boil for 1 hour. Pare, core and cut up quinces and stew till soft in some of the juice from the boiling melon. Then put both together, add the rest of sugar, and boil till it will set when tested. Quince Chutney Six large quinces, 2lb. apples, 1b. ripe tomatoes, 4 large onions, 2lb. brown sugar, 2o0z, salt, loz. ground ginger, 6 chillies, 4% teaspoon cayenne pepper, 1 teaspoon mustard, 1 teaspoon curry powder, Y2lb. seeded raisins. Peel and cut up all ingredients, mix and cover with vinegar (about 3 pints), boil slowly 3 to 4 hours. Bottle while hot. Quince Jam Take some ripe quinces, wash them and put them into a preserving pan with as much boiling water as will cover them. Let them simmer gently until they are so soft that they can be easily pierced with a pin. Lift them out, peel and core them, put the cores and skins back into the water and boil until it is considerably reduced; then strain it. Cut the fruit into thin slices; weigh these with an equal weight of sugar. Put them with the sugar into a preserving pan, pour over them the strained liquor; boil the whole slowly over gentle fire. Stir with wooden spoon till. it jells. Quince Jelly Cut up quinces fairly small, including cores and skins. Just barely cover with water; bring slowly to the boil, and simmer till all is a thick soft pulp. Strain through a cloth bag all night, or even for 24 hours. Then measure how much juice you have, and allow as many cups of sugar as you have of juice. Bring the juice to the boil, and stir in the sugar gradually. (It is best to have the sugar warmed, as it dissolves more quicklycan watm on meat-dish in the oven.) Stir continually, over moderate heat till the sugar is dissolved. Then bring all to the boil again, and boil very fast, a rolling boil-till it will set when a little is tested on a cold plate. Easy Quince Honey Six large quinces, 51b. sugar, 1 pint water. Boil sugar and water together 15 minytes. Add quinces grated or minced, and boil for 20 minutes, or till it will set. Quince Conserve (with vinegar) Five pounds quinces, 5lb. sugar, 14 pint vinegar. Cut up quinces into small pieces, put vinegar and sugar over, and leave 12 hours. Four off the syrup and boil it up quickly for 20 minutes, Add fruit and boil quickly for anothet hour, or till it wiii set, and is couked.