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whitelegg1

Joined: 05 Apr 2005
Posts: 409
Location: Woodford Green

Posted: Thu May 12, 05 10:44 am Post subject:

Quince cheese... Membrillo
To make about 3 pints 4 large quinces, wiped and shredded 4 cups sugar 4 cups water Prepare a syrup with the sugar and water, and boil together for five minutes. Add the quinces and cook over low heat, stirring frequently, for about two hours, or until the paste is translucent and thick. Put the paste into widemouthed jars , cover and process.

Medlar cheese....Put some Medlars into an earthernware jar, stand it in a saucepan with boiling water nearly to the top and keep it boiling gently over a slow fire. When the Medlars are quite soft, pass them through a fine hair sieve, and weigh the pulp, and for every pound allow one and a half breakfast cups of coarsely crushed loaf sugar and half a teaspoonful of allspice. Put all the ingredients together in the preserving pan, and stir them over the fire with a wooden spoon until thickly reduced, skimming occasionally. Turn the cheese into moulds, and keep them in a cold place. When ready to serve, turn the cheeses out of the moulds on to a dish. Theodore Garrett, The Encyclopedia of Practical Cookery)

See link: https://www.historicfood.com/medlar%20cheese%20recipe.htm

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Thu May 12, 05 11:02 am Post subject:

Daydreaming wrote:

What do you do with medlars?

I mentioned them in the 'Top Ten Wild Foods to Gather in Winter' article.

https://www.downsizer.net/Projects/Wild_Food/Top_Ten_Wild_Foods_to_Gather_in_Winter/

Try to let them blet on the tree, and be prepared to go on your hands and knees picking them up too. I like to eat them just as they are, squeezed out of the skin, and then spit the seeds out.

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Thu May 12, 05 11:11 am Post subject:
Just tried the medlar jelly - not bad, almost strawberry-like.

ButteryHOLsomeness

Joined: 03 Apr 2005
Posts: 770

Posted: Thu May 12, 05 11:17 am Post subject:

cab wrote:

Yeah, a quince (or japonica). Sounds most like a Japanese quince, from the colour and growing habit. Mottled green friut eventually going yellowish. A useful fruit, if we're right. Flowers vary from white to vivid red.

https://hortiplex.gardenweb.com/plants/p1/gw1009153.html
https://www.koiwascotland.plus.com/garden/japanese/boke.html

it's closer to the fruit in the second link though more mottled, definately a bit fuzzy but it's the right shape. and the flowers are creamy white like an apple tree...

what's quince like, i've never had it (or maybe i have

)

ButteryHOLsomeness

Joined: 03 Apr 2005
Posts: 770

Posted: Thu May 12, 05 11:17 am Post subject:

cab wrote:

Reading the posting again, sounds more like a proper quince than a Japanese quince.

Buttery, how big does the fruit get?

they range in size from your standard uk size apple to not quite the size of a bramley.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45674
Location: Essex

Posted: Thu May 12, 05 11:18 am Post subject:

ButteryHOLsomeness wrote:

what's quince like, i've never had it (or maybe i have

)

Inedible raw, very fragrant cooked

ButteryHOLsomeness

Joined: 03 Apr 2005
Posts: 770

Posted: Thu May 12, 05 11:18 am Post subject:

Judith wrote:

If you are me, you leave them the kitchen counter until bletted, then you throw them on the compost heap

i think that's what i'd do with them as well...not quite sure i can bring myself to actually allow fruit to rot before i eat it

ButteryHOLsomeness

Joined: 03 Apr 2005
Posts: 770

Posted: Thu May 12, 05 11:21 am Post subject:

tahir wrote:

ButteryHOLsomeness wrote:

what's quince like, i've never had it (or maybe i have

)

Inedible raw, very fragrant cooked

well that would explain why they were so revolting then

are they supposed to be rock hard when you pick them? these were like bricks but they were obviously 'ripe'

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45674
Location: Essex

Posted: Thu May 12, 05 11:24 am Post subject:
It does apparently ripen in warmer climes, but i've never seen it anywhere.

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Thu May 12, 05 11:28 am Post subject:

ButteryHOLsomeness wrote:

i think that's what i'd do with them as well...not quite sure i can bring myself to actually allow fruit to rot before i eat it

Bletting isn't the same as rotting.

Fruit have two ways of spreading seeds; plan A is to be eaten and deposited elsewhere in a nice pile of fertiliser. Plan B happens if you don't get eaten; you start producing enzymes to break down the fruit and allow the seed to escape, in a fruit that very soon will rot. It's like when a tomato has gone soft but hasn't gone moldy yet, or when a banana goes soft and black.

Rot only sets in if afterwards, or if the fruit is damaged in some way.

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Thu May 12, 05 11:30 am Post subject:

ButteryHOLsomeness wrote:

well that would explain why they were so revolting then

are they supposed to be rock hard when you pick them? these were like bricks but they were obviously 'ripe'

They are as tough as nails. Peel and core them, dice them up, and try stewing them with some apples. That's a good way to get the idea of what they're like. Then look into making jellies with them, they make a great fruit jelly.

Marmalade was originall made from quinces, and it's the Portugese word form quince that we get marmalade from.

whitelegg1

Joined: 05 Apr 2005
Posts: 409
Location: Woodford Green

Posted: Thu May 12, 05 11:57 am Post subject:
Apparently if you leave a quince in a bowl of apples, it transfers over some of the flavour. Don't know if that is true, I've never had a quince...

ButteryHOLsomeness

Joined: 03 Apr 2005
Posts: 770

Posted: Thu May 12, 05 12:14 pm Post subject:

cab wrote:

ButteryHOLsomeness wrote:

i think that's what i'd do with them as well...not quite sure i can bring myself to actually allow fruit to rot before i eat it

close enough for me though

i will eat blackening bananas in banana bread and will juice tomatoes that are getting a bit overipe but medlars are just so gross looking already... i think i'd need to try them cooked in something first then i might change my mind

what do they taste like anyway?

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Thu May 12, 05 2:01 pm Post subject:
They taste, when bletted, like a cross between stewed apples and stewed pears, with the tiniest hint of spice. When cooked in a jelly from un-bletted, I don't know how to describe them. Not so very far from quince jelly, but not as nice...

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Thu May 12, 05 2:02 pm Post subject:

whitelegg1 wrote:

Apparently if you leave a quince in a bowl of apples, it transfers over some of the flavour.

Don't know if that is true, I've never had a quince...

I've never stored both in the bowl and then stewed the apples without quince. I might try it.

Our GP has a quince tree that we raid once a year.

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