Quince is a beautifully fragrant fruit, sitting somewhere between an apple and a pear, with a naturally floral, almost honeyed aroma. While it’s very firm and tart when raw, once cooked it transforms into something soft, ruby-red, and delicately sweet. As a nation, lots of us only know it for its place on a cheese board with crackers and cheddar, but it is so much more than that.
There are not many quince producers left here in WA and many are really struggling as our people are not buying them, maybe because they seem tricky to prepare. Here’s a recipe to create an utterly luxurious dessert out of some fruit, sugar and spices.
Ingredients
- 3 Quinces
- Juice of a lemon
- Vanilla pod
- Star anise
- Cinnamon quills
- Cardamom pods
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon demerara sugar
- Water
- Double cream to taste
Method
Firstly, get your oven heated to 160c. Prepare your quince, by slicing it into chunky wedges, you can leave the skin on or peel it off if you prefer, and removing the seeds.
Place into a deep baking tray with a generous squeeze of lemon, a cup of demerara or brown sugar and a cup of water.
Add in some aromats: cinnamon quills, star anise and cardamon pods, plus one vanilla pod, split in half.
Tightly cover it with some baking paper and foil, before popping it into the oven. Once tender remove the lid, flip the quince over and cover all sides in the beautiful syrup, crank the heat of the oven to 200, and pop back in uncovered for another handful of minutes until deep and caramelised.
