Be adventurous with quince
This week I had another Sookee call with the question asking for some recipes of what to do with quince.
The quince is quite abundant this year and it seems that bags of quince have been making their rounds in Sooke. Quince is a pear-shaped fruit, hard as a rock and fuzzy on the outside. It has a delicious, fruity scent and is extremely high in pectin.
I use the juice for not only making quince jelly without added pectin, but also to add to fruits lacking in pectin when making other jams and jellies. It is also great to make membrillo, which will be another recipe.
The last fellow, Bob, wanted to try chutney, so I gave him a rough recipe but he had forgotten the squash. The following is a recipe for quince-squash chutney.
Cook 2 ice cream buckets of uncut quince, washed and defuzed in a pot with water about half way in the pot, with a lid. Watch carefully so as not to scorch.
Cook a medium- sized yellow squash, kambucha or hubbard squash in water. I bake mine in water.
When the quince is cooked, remove from liquid, retaining the liquid.
Cool quince and then remove 4 cups of the flesh and skin from the cores, into a large pot.
While the quince is cooling remove 4 cups of squash from inside the skin into the pot.
Add 1 cup apple cider vinegar and 2 cups quince juice. Blend with a hand blender or cook and mash.
Add 1 cup raisins, 2 c. brown sugar, 1 tsp. each of cloves, allspice, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and turmeric.
Cook slowly until well blended, again stirring and being watchful not to scorch, for about 20 minutes.
Pour into hot sterilized jars with sterilized lids. Screw lids on but not to tightly. Put into boiling water bath for 20 minutes. Remove from bath, dry and label and enjoy with your favorite meat or with potatoes.
Be adventurous.
