Japanese Quince Jelly, Syrup and Sweets

Japanese Quince is one of my autumn favourites and one I make a beeline for every year. You can read more about these delightfully scented,  mouth-puckering and fabulously versatile little fruits here: https://edible-leeds.blogspot.com/2017/11/quince-quince-glorious-quince.html 

Japanese Quince Jelly 

This beautifully sharp, sweet and dreamily aromatic jelly is one of the creations that go into my JQ Knickerbocker Glory, it also works well spread on to warm toast or served alongside game meats, particularly wildfowl and is great added to sauces to provide an edge of acidity, sweetness and aromatic attitude. There are many other applications for this jelly, so get busy gathering, creating and playing...

1kg Japanese Quince

750g Golden Granulated Sugar

Water

Wash the fruits to remove any dirt and then place them whole in a large pan. Add water to cover, (approximately 800ml) and bring to the boil, once boiling, reduce heat and simmer until all the fruits split. Pour the contents of the pan into a jam pan lined with a large piece of muslin cloth, gather the cloth and suspend it to allow all the liquid to escape (this could take a wee while, so grab a brew). Once all the liquid has dripped into the jam pan, add the sugar and slowly bring to the boil, stirring to ensure the sugar dissolves evenly. Leave on high heat and boil until setting point is reached. Pour the jelly into clean sterilised jars, seal and leave to stand for 24 hours.

Don't throw away the cooked fruits! Use a spoon and pass the softened fruits through a fine meshed sieve. Add this puree to Japanese Quince Curd, Japanese Quince Ice-cream or combine with other fruit purees to make fruit leathers. Recipes for Japanese Quince Curd and Ice Cream can be found here: https://edible-leeds.blogspot.com/2017/11/quince-quince-glorious-quince.html

Japanese Quince Syrup and Sweets

This recipe requires a little bit of focus and time but you create two products in the process. I serve
these sweets at the end of my pop ups as a little extra treat and they are very well received.

Using a sharp knife quarter each quince and then, using your thumb and a finger, scoop out the seeds. Half each of the quarters (length ways) and then cut those in half again, placing each piece into a clean, sterilised 1 litre kilner jar. Once the jar is 3/4's full, pour golden granulated sugar up to the top of the jar. Seal and leave. The sugar will draw out the moisture from the quinces (osmosis) and eventually you will end up with an amber coloured liquid that is deeply aromatic and tasty as you like. 

At this point, pour the contents of the jar into a sieve that you've placed over a large jug and leave a wee while to drain adequately. The syrup is ready to be bottled or, if you prefer you can pasteurise it to prevent wild yeast fermentation: heat the syrup gently to boiling and then pour directly into clean bottles. This syrup can be added to cocktails, drizzled over ice-cream or reduced further to create a very sticky, thick syrup.

Take a piece of the now drained and sugar saturated quince and remove the tough membrane that contained the seeds with a sharp knife. This is fairly time consuming but easy to do as the pieces are more maleable from being sat in the syrup. Once you've removed the membrane, place the pieces into a bowl of sugar (or not if you'd prefer to avoid a visit to your dentist) and then onto a sheet of greaseproof paper. Place the sweets into a dehydrator and dehydrate until chewy and adequately dried out for adequate, longer-term storage.