Quince – An Unusual Beauty

Quince is a fruit that is kin to a pear but more exotic. The tree keeps to a modest size with beautiful pale pink flowers in spring and golden fruit in the fall. But where quince really shines is in the kitchen.

Quince in the Kitchen

Sweet and fragrant quince preserves are just one of the rewards of growing this unique fruit tree. The fruits change in color from palest of yellow to a vibrant magenta when cooked and quince works well in both sweet and savory recipes.

History of Quince

Quince is native to Iran, Turkey and possibly Greece. In this country, in the past, many homesteads had a quince tree somewhere in the garden or yard — but today the fruit has fallen into obscurity. Quince is difficult to find in the store. You can occasionally find it in a supermarket or a farmers market.

My Introduction to Quince

The first time I saw a quince was in a farmers market. After I bought some and took them home, I asked the grower if they would be sure to let me know when they had more. The response was, “Sure. But what do you DO with them!” Apparently, there was a quince tree or two on the property of this farm and they had decided to pick them and bring them to market to see if anyone would buy them but no one from the farm knew what to do with them!

Easy to Grow

Quince is relatively easy to grow and care for. It maintains a small stature which makes the fruit easier to harvest than that of its cousins the pear and apple.

In my creek side garden, trying to harvest fruit without netting the tree is almost impossible — except for quince. (See Growing Fruit can be a Heartbreaker) Uncooked, it is extremely hard. While this makes it difficult to slice in the kitchen, it seems to discourage deer, birds and squirrels from eating the fruit before I have a chance to pick it! Yea!!

I have had some trouble with what I think may be fire blight but have a handle on it using a neem oil spray and cutting out the affected branches and fruit. Last year I applied neem after the leaves had dropped from the tree in early winter, in late winter before it leafed out and again after it had blossomed and set fruit.

Japanese beetles also like quince trees (what don’t they like!). But even with fire blight and beetles, I still got more than 20 pounds of fruit off of my small tree that is just over 5 feet tall.

All fruit trees in bloom are beautiful but the quince holds a special place in my heart for the color and delicacy of the blooms.

Harvest Time

As the summer progresses and moves into fall, it’s time to pick the quince. I picked mine in mid-October. They weren’t yet ripe but I brought them in to ripen on the kitchen counter. Unripe quince are a pale green/yellow color. When they ripen they turn more of a golden yellow color and have a beautiful flowery, perfume.

Cooking Quince

As I mentioned earlier. Quince is a hard fruit and not easy to cut. I gave up trying to cut straight through the core, like I would with an apple. Major fear — slicing through one of my fingers using this method! Ouch!!!

Instead, I peeled each fruit and them sliced around the core. Yes, I lost some fruit using this method, but I did manage to exit the kitchen with all of my digits intact!

As I sliced each fruit I dropped it into a pot of water that had half a lemon in it. This prevents the fruit from turning brown. For about four cups of fruit, I used six cups of water and 3/4 of a cup of sugar. Heat the water to a simmer and cook until they are soft. This will take about 60 to 90 minutes depending on the size of the quince pieces. You can use the quince as soon as it is soft but if you keep cooking it a bit longer, you will see it take on the beautiful magenta color that is so striking.

Quince have a ton of pectin in them so making jellies, jams and preserves does not require any additional thickeners. After they were cooked, half the quince went into the freezer for a harvest pie for Christmas and half I mashed down into a jammy preserve.

After I the quince cooked down, I added some cinnamon and nutmeg. I used the preserves to top an easy oat bar. You can use the quince preserves the same way you would use any other jelly — on top of toast, or a peanut butter sandwich, or as a glaze for a main course protein.

Quince Topped Oat Bars

This oat bar is adapted from a recipe from Forks over Knives https://www.forksoverknives.com/recipes and was done by mashing two ripe bananas, adding a teaspoon of vanilla and 1 1/2 cups of oats. I mixed until it was combined and pushed it into a loaf pan lined with parchment paper. After that, on went my quince preserves, about two cups worth. I topped it with chopped walnuts and put it into a 350 oven for about 30 minutes. When it’s done, pull it out, let it cool and store in a container in the fridge.

If you can’t plant a quince tree, I highly recommend snagging some if you see it in the market. It’s such a beautiful, colorful and lusciously scented addition to many recipes.