Made From Scratch: Quince Paste
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott/Not Quite Nigella
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking and waiting time: 17 hours (45 minutes + 3-4 hours + 8 hours + 4 hours)
- 2kg/4 pounds quinces, washed well (fuzz on skin removed)
- Peel of 2 lemons
- Juice of 2 lemons
- 2 vanilla pods
- Seeds of 2 lemons
- Around 2kgs of white sugar
Note: I used two small to medium sized lemons
Step 1 - Leave the skin on the quinces but core and chop them roughly (reserve the cores and seeds for later). Place the quince pieces in a pot with the lemon peel and cover with water. Simmer until soft for 45 minutes or so. Drain in a colander.
Step 2 - Place the quince pieces (with skin still on them) and the lemon peel in a food processor and process until smooth. Measure how many cups of quince puree you have-I got just under 6 cups of it. Place it into a large pot and add an equal amount of sugar as well as the lemon juice. Slice the vanilla pods down the centre, scrape out seeds and add these to the puree along with the scraped vanilla pod. Place the quince cores and seeds and lemon seeds in a muslin bag and tie up and pop into the pot (these contain pectin which will help it set).
Step 3 - Simmer on a low heat stirring occasionally for about 3-4 hours until it becomes very thick. The thicker it is, the less time it needs in the oven if any at all. The quince puree will change colour. After about 2 hours cooking when it starts to turn a rich deep colour, it makes a wonderful curd-like jam and is fantastic on ice cream or with a nice vanilla flavoured Greek yogurt. But to make the quince paste you want it dark, dark deep red so keep going on low (if you take it too high, it will spit everywhere and I mean everywhere, I was cleaning every surface).
Step 4 - Line 2 8x8 inch square oven proof baking tins or 2 round oven proof baking tins with parchment and pour the hot quince puree into these, not more than 2cms or 3/4 inch thick (the tins will become hot so be careful) and jiggle a little to smooth down the top. Or place in individual ramekins. Place the baking tins in a 52C/125.6F oven for 7-8 hours until it has dried out and has set completely. Refrigerate for 4 hours and then slice.