Elliehen passes on a Peta Mathias Quince recipe

fishplants, May 18, 6:16am
The usual and easy way is: wash quinces and yes rub the fluff off - then quarter, take out the seeds and put through a mincer or grate or food process or whatever. I like the mincer as it produces lovely little even bits.

Cook in very little water with NO sugar to start with. When really soft and most of the water is evaporated (about half an hour of either constant stirring or 4 hours of crock-potting) weigh the fruit pulp and add the same amount of sugar.

Cook for another 15 minutes or till it sets (stirring all the while). For jam fill in jars now - for paste put fine sugar onto a board or bench and put the thick jam on it, adding more sugar as you roll it out. Cut into any shapes you like - or leave over night to cool and then cut. Keep in fridge.

lurtz, Aug 14, 5:56am
Quote attributed to elliehen

"I am currently reading Peta Mathias' 1998 book Salut! and it's full of fascinating snippets of amusing culinary information.

On page 105 she has the best recipe I've come across for Quince Paste: "Rub the down off the quinces with a cloth and stick them, as is, in a large ovenproof dish. Cover the dish and place in a low oven till they are soft, then core the fruit and slice it without peeling. Puree it in a food processor, weigh it and add the same amount of sugar. Boil it up in a preserving pan, stirring constantly with a long wooden spoon (boiling sugar is hot hot hot). It is ready when the paste starts to caramelise and pull away from the pan. Remove the pan from the heat and keep stirring till the paste has cooled down. Ladle it into shallow containers like jellyroll tins. The next day, place the tins of paste in a warming oven or on the lowest possible heat of the oven for a few hours till it has dried out. Cut the paste into whatever shape you like - in the south of France it is usually cut in little oblongs. Keep it in a paper-lined tin."

cookessentials, Aug 15, 2:00am
Brilliant, thanks elliehen.

rainrain1, Aug 15, 5:10am
“They dined on mince, and slices of quince
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon.”

samanya, Aug 15, 8:27am
Hi elliehen . miss you.

jwjmummy, Aug 15, 9:41am
. me too

pony_girl, Aug 15, 10:11am
Yes, I miss elliehen and her lovely posts too.

frances1266, Aug 15, 10:36am
I miss Ellie too.

bev00, Aug 15, 12:51pm
Bring back Elliehen ~ she's a real treasure and much missed.

nfh1, Aug 15, 4:42pm
I completely agree - I used to love reading her posts, so very witty and a fantastic way with words.

cookessentials, Aug 15, 10:06pm
Yes, I agree. Especially under the circumstances of her departure.

cookessentials, Aug 15, 10:07pm
And you know? never nasty, just a great wordsmith, yet the nasty ones ( well some of them) are still here. go figure!

samanya, Aug 15, 10:26pm
go figure?
It's not rocket science.
Nasty = complain!

cookessentials, Aug 16, 1:22am
Yes, but they get to stay!

samanya, Aug 16, 6:28am
Exactly . elliehen spread her 'bonhomie' all around & the nasty(ies) has the knack of alienating a huge number of genuine posters!
Wait for this thread to disappear?

rainrain1, Aug 16, 9:27pm
How can you tell the genuine from the baddies?
I'm never too sure who dislikes who.
Why let it get to you?

kay141, Aug 16, 9:35pm
Some times it is very easy to tell.

samanya, Aug 17, 12:24am
You can't tell?
It's not worth letting an anon nasty get to you though, although sometimes I just can't help myself retaliating to the smugness of some.

kay141, Aug 17, 1:59am
There is smugness and then there is very careful snide comments, often in the same post. Both should be ignored but, I agree, it is so hard sometimes. i know of occasions when it has been taken into real life.

samanya, Aug 17, 5:38am
Taken into real life . wow, that's a bit sick, isn't it?

cookessentials, Aug 17, 9:14am
I dont. Too busy to waste my good energy on those sort of people.

rainrain1, Aug 20, 2:58am
This recipe has probably been put up before, but I couldn't find it under the name here.
I've just made this slice of heaven, it's called Melocoton Chocolate Slice, and is made with dried apricots.
Melocoton according to Google is a type of peach. I don't pretend to know anything whatsoever about quince, and have never tasted it, but I was wondering if it can be dried and used in this recipe in place of the apricots. If not make it anyway. it's so good

2 pkts (250gr) super wine biscuits, crushed
250gr butter, melted
1 cup white chocolate buttons
1/2 cup dried apricots, diced
1/2 cup crystallised ginger, diced
1 tin condensed milk

Mix crushed biscuits and melted butter and press into a greased baking tin. Sprinkle chocolate buttons over the biscuit base, then the apricots and ginger. Drizzle condensed milk over the top and bake for 20minutes at 180degC.

rainrain1, Aug 20, 3:15am
Re above recipe
I just remembered it takes longer than that to cook . another 8 to 10 minutes or more. till the cond milk looks caramel colour

samanya, Jul 26, 10:55am
That sounds so delicious (& a bit sinful for some of us)
I made something quite similar from one of Annabel's books with dark chocolate, a while back & it went down a treat, with coffee & nibbles after dinner.
I'm sure that dried Quince could be used, but wonder if the taste would be as sharp as apricots? I do know that dried, the flavour intensifies.
It's a while since I had access to quinces. I used to have a tree, on a former property & it was so very old, it was on a huge lean & the poor thing succumbed in a storm :(