Quince cheese/ dulce de membrillo

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My partner’s mum brought us a bag of quinces when they visited a couple of weeks ago. They have been hanging around since then so I finally bit the bullet last night. I had been putting it off because quinces are notoriously hard to process. Some years ago we tried quince cheese at a specialist food market and it was so delicious, but expensive, we thought we could make our own. My partner spent hours painstakingly pressing the pureed fruit through a sieve. The result was delicious, but we began to understand why it was so expensive to buy! This time I looked for a different approach and after a bit of research, came up with a plan. First I peeled all the quinces (some of which were quite small), then I cut them into quarters and cut out the core, as I would with an apple. Then I dropped the quarters into a bowl of water to wash off left-over bits of pips etc. The core is surrounded by a layer of tough fibrous white tissue, so then I cut each quarter into small pieces and carefully cut away any traces of the white parts. When I was sure I had nothing but diced flesh, I rinsed them a few times, then with just a bit of water in the bottom of the bowl, I put a plate on top and cooked them in the microwave on medium power until the pieces were completely soft. After cooling for a few minutes I pureed the lot with a hand blender, to produce a thick puree. Next I weighed the puree and added an equal weight of sugar. After stirring well to mix, it was back to the microwave again where I cooked it on medium power in ten-minute bursts (leaving it to cool a little in between so that it wouldn’t bubble all over the inside of the microwave!) until it was thickened and a rich darker colour. At this point the articles I had read said the puree could be spread in a thick layer in a dish and allowed to set to produce dulce de membrillo. Or my trusty ‘jams and preserves’ cookbook said the same puree could be poured into jars or moulds to produce quince cheese. In the end I opted for the latter because I wouldn’t have to look for a suitable container to store it! The result seems rather good. Also a lot easier than our previous effort. Trimming away all the fibrous parts eliminated the need for sieving, and cooking in the microwave eliminated the need for constant stirring for an hour or so. The only thing I would do differently is that next time, I will invite some friends to come and help with the fruit preparation, which was really quite tedious. It would be so much nicer with some friendly chat! Then we could share the proceeds All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2022.