downunder update

The most popular way to cook a quince is to bake it. Once you have the little beggars baked you can choose from all sorts of ways to serve this culinary delight but, I implore you, don’t try and take a bite from a quince until it’s cooked!

Let me disclose the secret ingredient in my Great Aunt Bessie’s excellent baked quince slices - sweet wine. Read the rest of this entry »

I saw a quince tree from a train window today. They grew in everyone’s yard when I was a child, next to the lemon tree, as much a part of the landcape as the Hills Hoist. Where are the quince trees of yesteryear?

If you’re lucky you can see an odd Cydonia oblonga here and there, sometimes in an older house down in the country. But I’m afraid they’re on the way out. Cooking a quince takes work and people don’t seem to fancy much of that these days.

For, although a quince looks somewhat like a pear, you can’t eat it like one until you cook it.

A quince is homely in a yellowish sort of way, and looks a little peculiar, rather bumpy and crooked but, when cooked, transforms into something just delightful. Here are a couple of classic recipes from an Australian childhood. Read the rest of this entry »