One day recently, I took the plunge, I had never touched a raw quince before but I decided to make quince paste! What a good decision! Yum!
My Method!
Roughly chop up all the quinces and place them in a large saucepan, cover them with water.
Add two strips of lemon peel (1cm/ 4cm, no white pith) (and a vanilla pod if you have one, I didn't though) and bring to a boil.
Reduce to a simmer, cover, and let cook until the quince pieces can be broken with a fork (30-40 minutes).
Then strain off the water, throw away the vanilla but keep the lemon peel with the quince.
Next, you need to puree the quince pieces, I did this with a bamix, of course you can use a blender or food processor.
Then, measure the quince puree, this is how you work out how much sugar you need, add as much sugar as there is quince (ie, 5 cups of quince, 5 cups of sugar).
Heat the quince and sugar on a medium to low heat. Stir with a wooden spoon until the sugar has completely dissolved.
Now add the 3 table spoons of lemon juice.
Cook the puree over a low heat, stirring occasionally, for 1-1 1/2 hours, until the quince paste is very thick and has a deep orange pink color.
it gets even darker than this, I just forgot to take the picture!
Now, once it is very thick, spread it into lined pans, I put mine into a slice tin and into some patty pans. Cook in an oven at a about 50 degrees Celsius, very low, to dry it out and help it set. This seemed to take a long time for me and part way through I moved the paste that was in the slice tins onto flat trays and I spread it out further (to about 1.5 centimetres) as it just didn't seem like it was ever going to set!
Once they felt 'right', solid and not very liquidy (I know I use good, proper terms here!) pull it out and let cool. I then wrapped mine up in kitchen paper and now keep it in the fridge-
it is the best thing to just have a stash of! I love it! With brie! Camembert! goats cheese! vintage cheddar! it constitutes a meal in itself in my opinion!
I hope you make it and love it as much as I do! Wooo hooo!!
Reduce to a simmer, cover, and let cook until the quince pieces can be broken with a fork (30-40 minutes).
Then strain off the water, throw away the vanilla but keep the lemon peel with the quince.
Next, you need to puree the quince pieces, I did this with a bamix, of course you can use a blender or food processor.
Then, measure the quince puree, this is how you work out how much sugar you need, add as much sugar as there is quince (ie, 5 cups of quince, 5 cups of sugar).
Heat the quince and sugar on a medium to low heat. Stir with a wooden spoon until the sugar has completely dissolved.
Now add the 3 table spoons of lemon juice.
Cook the puree over a low heat, stirring occasionally, for 1-1 1/2 hours, until the quince paste is very thick and has a deep orange pink color.
it gets even darker than this, I just forgot to take the picture!
Now, once it is very thick, spread it into lined pans, I put mine into a slice tin and into some patty pans. Cook in an oven at a about 50 degrees Celsius, very low, to dry it out and help it set. This seemed to take a long time for me and part way through I moved the paste that was in the slice tins onto flat trays and I spread it out further (to about 1.5 centimetres) as it just didn't seem like it was ever going to set!
Once they felt 'right', solid and not very liquidy (I know I use good, proper terms here!) pull it out and let cool. I then wrapped mine up in kitchen paper and now keep it in the fridge- 
it is the best thing to just have a stash of! I love it! With brie! Camembert! goats cheese! vintage cheddar! it constitutes a meal in itself in my opinion!
I hope you make it and love it as much as I do! Wooo hooo!!
