Why haven't I tried this before .

Just won a prize pack from Barkers and it included a jar of quince paste which I've never tried before - had it with some Brie on a croissant for lunch - it's delicious!

What foods have you put off tasting for some reason and found they were delicious when you finally did?

The one I remember the most was Blue Cheese. Couldn't stand the sight or smell of it and finally tried in when I was in my 40's. Just LOVE it now! And the bluer the better.

I know what you mean - my dad ate blue cheese so I tried to like it for him but I was about 40 until I really liked it rather than pretending

l have made my own quince paste and jelly yummy. My 4 yr old loves it on blue cheese, l hate blue cheese.

This is where the slow cooker comes in handy - but even there you have to scrape and stir at least every 20 minutes!

Ditto. make huge amounts each year.
And it's even easier, since I learnt the trick of doing both jam and paste in the microwave - no burning on the bottom! I also make plum and other fruit pastes - so nice with cheese and crackers, and great for gifts. Kmart has gorgeous little ovalish pottle with airtight seals, in a pack of 5 or so, for cheap - excellent to put the cooled paste into.

Why hadn't I tried pomegranate molasses before last year? Darned if I know, but it gets well-used now!

I make quince jelly every year but would love to have a good paste recipe. I tried it once but it involved days (literally) in the oven on a very low heat. It was ok but not great. Anyone have a good recipe they can share?

Happy to share my recipes, but to get to the quince paste one, you need to know how I get to the "prepared fruit" stage. I love working out the easiest way to do things, and have to make allowances for disabilities, and that I can only work at things for small amounts of time - so for an able-bodied person, it's just so darn easy!

I call this method, which uses the crockpot, and gives fruit for paste, liquid for jelly,.

THE ONE QUINCE RECIPE TO RULE THEM ALL.
Ingredients
• Quinces - unpeeled, halved, as many as will fit
• Sugar (cup for cup with water, see instructions)
• water
• juice 2-3 lemons
Instructions
1. For my large oval crockpot, I manage to get 5 large and 3 smaller quinces into it whole or standing on their ends, or a heap more cut into halves.
2. No need to core or peel them, just cut out any major blemishes, bruises or rotten bits. I usually halve them, now.
3. (If you have a smaller crockpot, just fill it as you can, adjust sugar water to fit)
4. Add cup for cup sugar and water to come halfway up fruit (usually around 2.5 - 4 cups each of sugar and water - can always reduce at the end, in a pot, so no worries) and the juice of 2 -3 lemons, depending how tart you like your jelly, in the end.
5. Follow basic recipes, use cooked quince flesh as desired after.
6. They can be frozen to use in muffins or desserts later in the year, when fruit is scarce, or made into paste, or simply served with custard.
7. I set it up, before going to bed (around midnight – 1 am), by giving it a burst on high until bubbles start to rise, then turn it to warm
8. (I use the largest crockpot, which has this facility), then turn it to warm, and in the morning it’s ready to lift out (VERY carefully!) the whole quinces (I use TWO ladles for each).
9. Set the fruit onto a plate to cool a little. Peel the skins off, and core them.

See next post on how to use the liquid for Quince Jelly, and the fruit flesh for Quince Paste - even a recipe for using the fruit for a Quince Tartin - my son's favourite). It's taken me a long time to work out this time-saving method, but it gives me pleasure to still make things that taste the same (or better) than I used to - and no burnt-bottomed pots, either. Try it, you'll like it! 7-9 quinces can give you a variety of yummy product, for little physical input, and darn all time standing over, stirring!

QUINCE JELLY:
Strain the liquid [from the crockpot, using the above recipe] through a fine strainer into a pot, bring to the boil, check for setting ability after it’s boiled for a while. [Or do the whole thing in microwave - see below]
I sometimes add a little lemon or lime juice if I think it needs it, then bottle and seal when drops on a cold saucer in the fridge show clear signs of setting. If you think it needs it, add an extra cup of jam setting sugar to help things along. Jam setting sugar (with extra pectin) is available in most supermarkets these days).

You can do this in a very large pyrex jug in the microwave, in bursts of about 5 minutes, until it reaches setting stage. If you have made the Jelly liquid by the method above, you may have to make 2 batches, as there's a LOT of gorgeous, glistening, deep pink liquid.

QUINCE PASTE
You can use all (or part) of the solids (the fruit you used, either while, halved or quartered, in the crockpot).
With the skins, cores and any blemishes removed, either blitz with a stick blender or in a kitchen wiz and put into a smaller crockpot with a cup of sugar for every cup of pulp.
Cook on low, uncovered, until a deep rich pink and very thick – “until a wooden spoon leaves a line through the mixture”.
If you wish, when it’s getting really thick, hasten the process by putting into a LARGE pyrex microwave bowl and use 3 minute bursts on high in the microwave, stirring halfway through each, until VERY thick, then spoon into small pottles, leave until cool, and seal. Serve with cheese, crackers and wine.
Suitable 200ml (microwavable) containers for storing your paste are now available at Countdown supermarkets, smaller ones at K-Mart, so look around – they will take the hot paste without melting, and store it well

QUINCE TARTE TARTIN - The simplest dessert ever!
2 Tablespns butter
2 Tablspns brown sugar
1 - 2 Tablespns water
slices of cooked quince
1 sheet prepared frozen, thawed puff pastry
Pre-heat oven. Into a heavy pan that can go into the oven, melt butter, add brown sugar (or a mix of brown and white, stir until bubbling
Slice some of your fruit (like apple slices. ). Add 1 - 2 tablespns of water to the butter/sugar in the pan, add quince slices, quickly and lightly mix, flop pastry over the top, tuck down around sides, quickly make a couple of holes to let out a little steam, and put into middle of a hot oven (around 160-180 degrees C). Cook until lightly browned and crisp.
To serve. Place serving plate over the top of pan, quickly turn over, scrape any remaining sauce over top of fruit, and serve with cream, icecream or custard. or all of those.

OTHER USES FOR THE FRUIT
The fruit [cooked or raw - but in this case, cooked as before in the crockpot] can be frozen, either as quarters or slices, to use in Tartin (above) or in muffins, cakes, or anything you can imagine. These little jewels of fruit are such a taste explosion. with a distinct exotic flavour (well, they do come originally from Turkey. ), it’s wonderful to have a stash in your freezer for some delights in the middle of winter.

Enjoy - it's coming up to Quince season soon.

Thanks! So assuming I just cook in a pot as usual, just take the solid bits of fruit after straining and remove the skin and cores then? That sounds quite giddily?

Yup - I find the crockpot method has many virtues over a pot.

You can just stew the fruit, strain liquid off (what a waste!) wizz it, then add cup of pulp to cup of sugar - but watch the bottom of the pot! Needs constant stirring, for a long time. and that's why I generally finish off in microwave

Blue cheese is lovely soaked in port too.

Someone on Northwood Neighbourly is giving away quinces if anyone is interested.

autumnwinds I found your posts via a search as I have never made quince paste nor jelly I am absolutely over the moon with the methods and hints you posted as they worked a treat. I have been given a sackful of huge quince and wanted to do something a little different with some hence the paste and it's absolutely delicious.
One thing I will mention is that I used two crockpots. one original ralta (usually my fav by far)which only has high and auto settings and a newer one (I have been meaning to move it on for ages as cooks too fast but I will now keep it ) which does have a low setting. The latter one gave by far the best result as the liquid for the jelly was a beautiful pink and quite clear. The older one which was on a low setting possibly overcooked the quince as they were very brown and the liquid was brown and far from ambrosial pink. I will have to just be a little more patient and only use the newer one with a low setting for the remaining quince.
I did buy some of the 200ml containers from Kmart and they worked a treat.
Thanks again autumnwinds.

Bread and butter pickle (home made with tumeric and coriander seed) with cheese and crackers. stunning flavour .

I was given this exact product for Christmas. unbelievable delicious isn't it

Quince paste and jelly are both deli cious. Truffle oil is yum too.

This year I've made Quince conserve which is quite sweet & the following recipe, which is my favourite, as I prefer savoury.

Quince pickles (courtesy the late Digby Law)
Good with hot or cold meats. For best results use not quite ripe Quinces.

Quinces
White vinegar
white sugar
whole cloves
whole black peppercorns
Cayenne pepper
Peel & core the quinces & slice into thick segments (I cut them into about 2 cm chunks as it turns out more like a jellied pickle/chutney).
Place into saucepan & two- thirds cover them with white vinegar.
For every cup of vinegar used add 1 cup sugar, 4 cloves, 4 peppercorns & a pinch cayenne.
Bring to the boil & cook gently, uncovered until the quinces are tender & a good pink colour.
Allow to cool, then spoon into jars, cover with syrup & seal.
It's delicious with cheese, crackers & imo is much easier than making paste.

I use the strained quince liquid as a cordial - just add soda water/soda stream and it's gorgeous. It would be nice as a base for a vodka cocktail too I suspect.

autumnwinds, knows what she's talking about. I've had a few good recipes from her . mind you, I've had a lot of good 'keeper' recipes from many on this forum & bless them all.