Quince is a tree fruit and if the tree is part of a garden is often selected for its lovely blossoms in spring. Apples and pears are related as part of the Rosaceae family. When we had quince in our garden at Magnolia House it was a large shrub and the fruit was small in comparison with the fruit shown above, and those the we used to make our chutney. When we tested the stunted fruit in out garden, it tasted bitter, and puckered the mouth a bit. Not so the fruits we used out of Joan Pont’s garden.
When we went out to pick the fruit I was surprised at their size. When I removed the large fruit I was also shocked at their heft – each was almost pound! Like apples the fruit begins to darken when exposed to air, but that was not a problem since we were going to cook them in any case.
Joan and I managed to chop and talk for hours – literally. I was on one cutting board chopping red sweet peppers and ginger. I conned Joan into chopping the onion, a task I truly dislike (she had some trick and did what I would call medium dice), meanwhile I chopped slightly smaller dice of pepper and ginger and as things were thrown into to pot for cooking and stirring I spotted two bags of currants which were also added. The wet was a lot of apple cider vinegar which does come to the front of the finished chutney big time. Vinegar forward…
It is pretty and will be a gift for my friends Susan and Matt Connelly when I visit her next weekend in Klamath CA. I also am bring some great big quince fruit for her to turn into something delicious. She loves quince and her own quince won’t be ripe for a month or so.
daily woodring 