Regan Daley's Poached Quince with Vanilla and Cinnamon

I grew up snacking on chewy squares of quince puree, dried to leathery whips by a dear family friend, breakfasting on toast spread with quince jam made by my mother and a Greek colleague, who added blanched almonds to her batches, and finishing dinner with wedges of quivery membrillo eaten alongside pungent cheeses. It wasn't until I moved to New York that I realized quince was considered an exotic fruit.

A few years ago, on a trip up to The Cloisters, I came across a quince tree, laden down with heavy fruit, in one of the interior gardens. I tried to find out who was the lucky harvester of the quinces, hoping against all odds that when my interest was noted by the tree's caretaker, he would exclaim with glee, "Finally, someone who wants those hard, sour things!". It will probably come as no surprise to you that this was not the case. Lucky Met Museum employees were entitled to gathering the fruit and that was that.

So now I buy my quinces at the greenmarket just like everyone else, filling my plastic bag with the fuzzy yellow orbs, letting them sit out for a few days in my kitchen while their perfume fills the air. Last night I decided to try a different way of preparing the fruit, poaching chunks of them in a sweet, spiced syrup until rosy and fork-tender. The syrup ends up very sweet and I urge you to experiment with the amount of sugar you add. I'll be eating the soft quinces with yogurt spooned over them and stirring the syrup into tea.

Poached Quince with Vanilla and Cinnamon
Adapted from Regan Daley's In the Sweet Kitchen

4 cups water, preferably filtered or still spring water
2 cups granulated sugar
1 large cinnamon stick
1/2 plump vanilla bean, split
3 to 4 large quinces

1. Combine the water, sugar, cinnamon stick and vanilla bean in a heavy-bottomed 2 1/2- to 4-quart saucepan. Heat gently, stirring until the sugar dissolves, then bring to a boil and remove from the heat. Peel the quince with a vegetable peeler and cut them into quarters. Cut out the cores and cut each quarter in half.

2. Add the fruit to the syrup. Return the pot to medium-low heat and bring the syrup to just below a boil. Reduce the heat and keep the syrup at a bare simmer for 40 minutes to 1 hour, or until a sharp paring knife slips easily into a slice of quince. The quinces will have turned a pale pinkish color. Cool the fruit in the syrup. Refrigerated, the fruit and syrup will keep for a week or more.

Comments

[Zarah Maria]

Mmm, poached quinces and yogurt - now THAT would make me eat breakfast!:-)

[Nicky]

Hey there! I guess, I'm one of the very few people out there, who has never eaten quince... But I'd give anything a try, that contains vanilla and cinnamon, I'm sure it tasted delicious ;) Btw, I didn't find your name on your "About-Site" - or did I overlook it?

[Luisa]

Nicky - Thanks for stopping by! If you've never had quince before, you should try Quittengelee before anything else, spread on some good toast with butter, it's total heaven. Subtle and floral and sweet and totally different from anything else. You're right, my name's not on the About page... guess that's sort of unintentionally mysterious, isn't it.

[Adam]

Highly recommended! Very easy and delicious!

[carol]

I inherited my parents home along with the very old little quince tree in the back yard. I never knew what to do with them. I can't wait to try your recipies! Thank you.

[Luisa]

Carol - how lucky to have a whole tree of them to yourself! You'll have fun using them up. I think quince paste and jam or jelly are a good place to start. I've also got a recipe for an apple-quince pie on this site that is out of this world.

[Patrick Walsh]

We have never had Quince in any form.
We bought this place about four years ago and there are two little bushes by our back deck. Darned if they havent presented us with 6 small quince. We are going to try to make some Quince Jelly with them. Any suggestions? Pat

[Patrick Walsh]

Futher to my earlier post re small Quince bushes giving us 6 Quince. We are in central Ontario. Base of the Bruce Peninsula ..Patrick

[Luisa]

Patrick - your own quince! That's lovely. I'd suggest making quince paste first...it's the best. Here's a good, simple recipe to start with: http://www.deliciousdays.com/archives/2006/11/16/membrillo/

[Patrick Walsh]

Membrillo sounds delicious..will try it.
We are going to move the bushes into a more sunny spot next spring..

[NN]

Yumm,
I love Quince, it's really common in Persian cuisine.
The Jelly is very good however the savory dishes made with quince is very delicious, like quince stew with lamb over some type of long grain rice!
everyone has to try it

[Lee Ann Martin]

Thank you for the recipes! We live in White Rock British Columbia where many folk are able to grow palm trees. The quince tree in our backyard was planted by former European owners. It is about 7 feet tall and produces 40-50 large yellow fruit about the size of a large Asian pear. For the first two years I did not know what they were! until while in France I spotted a cooking magazine with a feature on Quince (popular over there). The lovely smell when you bring them inside is unbelievable.

[Me]

it tastes like a brick.

[Melanie]

One question from an unknowledgeable quince bush owner... We purchased a 61 Modern Ranch last summer and noticed our quince bush in back. I have heard of the flowering quince, but never knew anything about the fruit. Apparently quince was much more common back in the days of canning and jarring jams and jellies. So, now that I have one, my question is... how and when can you tell that they are ripe, and do they vary in size from one area to another? Ours are approx. 2" in diameter. We are in South-West Michigan, if that effects anything. It is mostly in the shade, but does get a bit of mid day sun. Please help, we really want to taste these and have been told they are no good raw. Thanks! Melanie

[Mary]

You can tell quince are ripe when the first few quince fall off the tree on their own. You can then either pick the whole tree or any quince that have as little as a quarter of the fruit yellow instead of green. My grandmother always said that slightly underripe quince turn the best color of red or pink when cooked as opposed to fully ripe, so underripe is actually better than overripe.

[Janis]

I have two quince trees; planted the second when the goats got out and just about killed the first. They are the fruiting quince, (Cydonia oblonga), not the little flowering quince bushes (Chaenomeles speciosa). which also produce a little fruit sometimes, but are not the topic of recipes. Raintree nursery sells the fruiting quince. We have hundreds of very large fruits, and our best technique is to make quince sause which is like apple sause on flavor steroids. We freeze that in containers. Can't wait to try the other recipes!

[Nancy]

I was lucky enough to find a neighbor who did not want the quince on the tree in her yard. I like to make quince pies. Would you have a recipe for canning quince pie filling?

[Alison Crewdson]

Found this recipe as I have a quince tree full of ripe fruit and am looking for new ideas. I have never quite understood "cups", and googling seems to bring up differing answers. Would you be ever so kind and post the amounts of water and sugar in ml and grams? Many thanks

[Heidi]

I discovered quince a few years ago when I discovered what the lovely smelling fruit was growing on a bush in my garden. Now I make quince brandy and quince marmalade every year for gifts, had a bumper crop this year so just came on this site in hunt of some new recipes, thanks!

[Anita]

I would like to can this recipe... It seems that the sugar content is high enough. What do you think?

[Luisa]

Anita - I think that sounds nice, but I'd advise you to check a book on canning, such as Liana Krissoff's CANNING FOR A NEW GENERATION or Ball's book on canning for guidelines about how much sugar needs to be in the recipe for something to be canned safely.