Bianca’s Bon Appetit

We mentioned the various small mini-harvests which have been on the go recently, especially the famous much-await Quince. Today Tuesday 4 March marks the day of the first Quince trial.

Unsure of the expected yield, Bianca selected 10 of the yellowest specimens out of the wrappings in the Grade 1 box and prepared a large bowl of lemon/cold water to receive the slices of peeled quince. The off-white flesh is inclined to discolour (brown) extremely quickly, similar to some apples, only much quicker.

It soon transpired that 10 Grade 1 quinces would be excessive for the slow boiler, so a second batch in a pot was prepared. The last of the quince syrup was used as a base for a trial batch of apple puree/preserve as well.

After quite a while, the quince slices start looking like the Real McCoy

Above: Canning the quinces prepared in the slow cooker. The show the distinctive pink colouration.

Above: Flood-filling the jars of the quick-stew batch of quinces.

Above: Cooling down, waiting for the lids to “pop” and ready for labelling…

Above: After all canning and washing up is complete, all the fellas pose for a group photo, with the tomato relish and apple stew taking up the front row. All ready for labelling and storage on the pantry shelf.

Final left to right: Quince Preserve with Cinnamon and Ginger; Lemon Cordial; Apple Pie Filler with Cinnamon and Raisins; Lemon Preserve; Quince Preserve with Cinnamon and Ginger and Tomato Relish.

Quince Charming

I encountered preserved stewed quince and custard as a youngster many years ago, in a farming environment, I suspect. Thereafter, the picture on labels of quince products on supermarket shelves was about as close as I got to them. Quinces are that type of fruit that you dearly love and crave, or else you might not be bothered, one way or the other.

At Chartwell, we are fortunate enough to have a tree which is fruit-bearing (as quince requires very little water, we’ve probably had a good summer temperament for this tree). It was pruned the previous season by someone who claimed to be an “arborist”, but his credentials have since been queried, I understand. Whether he “hacked” the tree or not, I cannot really say, so we will start with the current situation as “ground-zero” and compare future crops to the 2013/2014 yield.

Our technical management (Prof Google and Dr Wiki) advise that we should pick the fruit as it yellows from the initial pubescent green, and then store the fruit in individual separated wrappings in a cool dark place, to ripen to an overall rich yellow colour. They also advise that one should not pick bruised fruit. We have many with marks and stains (not sure what is the cause), but we will check carefully next season to determine the malady.

(Above): Clayton carefully removes the fruit overhead with extension cutters, which we also use for pruning the high branches. Wherever possible, we try to avoid standing on ladders. Here, Tyler, who had the job of catching the falling specimens to minimise bruising,  has found a cunning use for the little steps instead.

 
(Above): The harvest being collected and checked by Tyler is starting to grow in size, a bit bigger than our January crop forecast…

(Above): Back at the sorting table, ready for wrapping in paper for storage, the specimens are graded for size and colour. Grade 1 is the large big-palm size, while the rest are categorised as Grade 2. Turns out that there were 26 Grade 1 and 42 Grade 2 quinces in this 2013/2014 harvest.

(Above): Ones of full yellow colour, with with no or very little green skin left, will be processed within the next few days, whist the rest will be left to ripen.

Quinces are tart and not good eaten raw. Many cooks like to use them in baking, such as a quince-apple crisp or pie. The quince flesh turns a light pink when baked and has a fragrant, perfume aroma. Other culinary uses include Iranian (meat stuffed into quince cavities), Moroccan tanginess (stews with meat, quince and dried fruits, spiced with cinnamon and cloves), marmalades and jellies.

Next Harvest

In Edward Lear’s The Owl and The Pussy-Cat, we read in the third verse:

Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
   Your ring?" Said the Piggy, "I will."
So they took it away, and were married next day
   By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
   Which they ate with a runcible*¹ spoon;  
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
   They danced by the light of the moon,

runcible*1 = today we would probably call it a SPORK, a spoon with three prongs of a fork.

What a scientist would call Cydonia oblonga, and what we generally call “Quince” are starting to loose their pubescence (soft fine hairs) and develop into ripe quinces, ready for the harvest at Chartwell. They are starting to look (almost) quite ready for the pot, but we will be patient with them for a week or two. I understand that quinces require a lot of patience, in ripening and cooking.

Quince has a relatively limited appeal and use – there is a single quince tree and it seems to have at least 30 fruit, at a rough head count.