A slab of homemade quince cheese





 

This week, I made some quince cheese. I had some very ugly quinces - covered in black spots, some deformed, some not quite ripe.  However, looks are not important for jam-making; it’s what’s inside that counts.

I decided to try this recipe from epicurious, mainly because it requires only 25 minutes stirring the pot (with some recipes, it’s over an hour). I reduced the amount of sugar (to taste), and added a teaspoon of lemon juice.



It set after only 20 minutes of stirring, and it tasted superb – heady and fragrant, like a warm Mediterranean breeze. Because I reduced the sugar, it may not keep so well, but I don’t think it’ll take us long to polish it off.

These are the quinces I didn't use, but you get the idea. Not pretty.

Apparently, quince has been cultivated for up to 3000 years, and quince cheese was one of the earliest jams. It’s the original and still one of the best in my book.