November 2007

Cristy wanted to pick fruit from some quince brambles that are growing near our house, so we finally did. It was after dark when we picked them, so what we came back with was sort of hit or miss.

This was mostly Cristy's idea so she had the pleasure of standing over the sink for the next hour, peeling and slicing these things. She discovered that a) the big green ones were green because they weren't ripe, even in the middle of November and b) the little ones were a bitch to peel. Also they are so sour that the word "sour" really doesn't do justice to the description of their sourness. I think "toxic" is better.

In any event, she got them all cut up and found a quince recipe which said to cook the quinces in something like a truckload of sugar for about 2 hours. She felt that this was too much sugar and too long to cook them, so she used a cup of sugar and put the fruit on the stove for a half hour or so. After a half hour they weren't quite done. In fact they tasted something like if you took paint thinner and mixed sugar into it. Gradually, she was convinced to add more sugar and to cook them longer, for a total of about 3 cups of sugar and 3 hours of cooking.

Here's what she ended up with:

It's not bad, but it was a lot of work so I'm guessing this might be the first and last time we make this particular condiment at our house.