I decided to wing it and use quince to try to make something similar to applesauce. The experiment turned out really well, if I do say so myself:
So well that I actually made a second batch and put a few jars away. I delivered a warm bowl to our neighbors with the three little girls, they are used to sampling my experiments.
Rub off any fuzz, then wash and quarter the quince (no peeling or coring required). Put the fruit in a large pot with water, a few cloves and some star anise. Bring to a boil, cover, and cook it until fruit is soft on medium high heat. (In my case this took about 45 minutes.) Run everything through a food mill into a bowl, discarding pips, skins and whatever doesn't go through the mill. Add sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and maple syrup to taste. This is one of those recipes that is hard to screw up.
If you want to bottle it, wash and put jars in the oven similar to what you would do when making jam, simmer lids in hot water on stovetop. Ladle hot sauce into hot jars, seal tightly, and wait for the tops to pop.
We're going to a housewarming and 70th birthday party next weekend; I've decided to take along a jar of the Quince (Not Apple) Sauce as the housewarming gift, so made a label out of a stock standard manila tag, rustic hemp twine, copper gardening label, Martha Stewart sheep sticker, and some brown paper cut with a punch on which I printed "Quince (Not Apple) Sauce."
Not baaad, eh?
Very cool tags for very cool sauce!
Posted by: Marilyn | 04/03/2011 at 12:25 PM