Quince paste is a sweettart fragrant preserve made with ripe quinces sugar and water Its a firm sticky paste perfect for slicing into thin layers to serve with cheese In Spain its known as membrillo and served with Manchego
Prep Time
3 hrs 50 mins
Dificult
Easy
Servings
32
Ingredients
Instructions
Wash
peel
and core quinces
reserving cores and peels. Coarsely chop flesh and transfer fruit to a large pan. Wrap cores and peels in cheesecloth
tie the bag with kitchen string and add it to the pan. (The peels contain most of fruit's pectin
which contributes to the firmness of quince paste.)
Pour in enough water to cover quinces and boil
with the pan partly covered
until fruit is soft
about 30 to 40 minutes. Remove the bag of peels and pass quince flesh through a sieve or food mill. (For best results
don't use a food processor as it will result in too fine a texture.) You should have about 2 ½ pounds of fruit pulp.
Transfer quince pulp to a saucepan and add sugar. Ideally
you should add the same amount of sugar
by weight
as fruit pulp. Cook and stir over low heat until sugar is dissolved. Continue cooking
frequently stirring with a wooden spoon
until paste becomes very thick and has a deep orange color
about 1 ½ hours. Draw the wooden spoon along the bottom of the saucepan: it should leave a trail
and quince mixture will stick to the spoon.
Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish or line it with greased parchment paper. Transfer quince paste to the baking dish
spreading it about 1 ½ inches thick. Smooth the top and allow it to cool.
Dry paste for about 1 ½ hours on your lowest oven setting
no more than 125 degrees F (52 degrees C). Allow quince paste to cool completely before slicing. In Europe
the traditional method of drying quince paste is to leave it in a cupboard for about 7 days. The remaining juices will continue to evaporate and render a drier paste.
Store quince paste in an airtight container in the refrigerator; the color will deepen with age.
