Cooking Japanese quinces
Swedboy
Posts: 386
in Fruit & veg
My Japanese Quince (Crimson and Gold) has produced two fruits (One has fallen off). What can I do with it. Dont think it is fully ripe as it is greenish/yellowy (photo made it look much greener)
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Put it in a fruit bowl with a banana. That should help ripen it. I have added some to apple sauce. It makes it more aromatic, or you can just enjoy the smell. Japanese quince are not supposed to be edible in the same way as normal quince.
I use the fruit of the chaenomeles (japanese quince) in cooking as I can't always get culinary quinces. They're not quite as good but perfectly acceptable They don't ripen in a conventional way - they do stay hard and yellowish until they've been really frosted, but you can still use them. They add flavour and fragrance to a dish
I cut them in quarters (using a sturdy knife) and put them inside a pheasant or guinea fowl to be pot-roasted. Surround the bird with quartered ripe apples and chunks of celeriac, cover the breast with streaky bacon and roast in a covered heavy casserole or slow cooker. When it's all cooked I mash the quinces into the cooking juices and then strain to make a sauce/gravy with the addition of a drop of draught cider.
Enjoy
Oh. I might try that!
My wife has used them in two ways. One was to chop one finely and mix wirh chopped apples for making an apple pie [ any other thing using pureed apple would work] to give a lovely flavour. The other was to quarter them, leaving skins on and cook them with sugar [ in the same ways as with crab apples ] and then strain them to make quince jelly. They are full of pectin and set easily.
Sadly I have only one but God it smells lovely.