Quince Marmalade

Quince Marmalade

Last winter, one of our favorite restaurants (Joule) had a weekly Winter Supper Series. Each supper brought a family style meal for $20 per person. Each week was a different theme and when the weather was cold and the snow was falling, there was nothing better than a hot meal with friends on the cheap. We always left stuffed, wine was $4/glass, and Rachel and Seif always made us feel welcome.

One night, after dinner, they brought out this jar of marmalade and a pot of hot water. The idea was to take 1-2 spoonfuls of the marmalade and drop it in the bottom of your mug. Then pour hot water over the mix and drink it like a tea.

The flavor was amazing. Sweet, tart, a hint of ginger and spice. It was comforting. We were with friends that night and I’m pretty sure that 4 of us polished off almost an entire jar of the delicious marmalade “tea”.

I’ve been dreaming of that tea all summer long. For the past three weeks, Mair Taki has been selling quince at the University District Farmers Market. I’ve been stocking up and just waiting until I had time to make marmalade. After a quick email with Joule to make sure what I was making would be similar to their marmalade, we were off and running.

Quince Marmalade adapted from Joule and from Home Cooking

Makes at least 8 half pints

• 5 pounds of quince
• 7 cups of water
• 5 lemons, very thinly sliced
• 2 inches fresh ginger, grated
• 7 cups of sugar
• Cheesecloth for processing

1. Scrub the quinces to remove all fuzz and check for worm holes.
   

   This yellow fruit turns pink when cooked

2. Quarter the quinces.
3. Remove the cores, stems, and seeds and reserve.
4. Shred the quince (a food processor works well here)
5. In a large non-reactive pot, add the shredded quince, the water, and the thinly sliced lemons.
6. Add the ginger to the pot.
7. Take a large square of cheesecloth and use it to tie up the cores and seeds.
8. Add the cheesecloth package to the pot. The cores and seeds contain natural pectin, so you don’t have to add any to the final product.
9. Cook the mixture on medium heat for approximately 1 hour. The fruit should be very tender.
10. Place the sugar in a large oven safe bowl and heat it for 5 minutes at 250 degrees.
11. Add the warmed sugar to the pan and mix well.
12. Turn up the heat to medium high and start preparing your jars.
13. Stir the quince mixture often to prevent burning.
14. When the mixture looks set (a skin will start to develop on top of the bubbling mixture between stirring), remove the cheesecloth packet and transfer the marmalade into prepared jars.
15. Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes and remove to let cool.
16. Marmalade will last 1 year.

Quince marmalade on flax bread

Notes: Quince starts out yellow and turns a shade of pink when it is fully cooked. Some quince will even turn a brilliant bright pink, but mine turned a muted shade of rose. The ginger was a big hit. I actually made two batches, one with and one without ginger and the batch with ginger was better. I can’t say that I could really taste the ginger, but the ginger batch had a depth that the non-ginger batch just didn’t have. I took the jar to work and have been enjoying quince “tea” every afternoon and I’ve thrown a tablespoon in with my cracked emmer breakfast cereal from Bluebird Grain Farms. Of course, you can also spread the marmalade on toast or use it as a topping for ice cream, or even pork or chicken.