Food

Sweet Quince Paste, I Want You on Everything!

Written by Ron Braverman on September 2, 2020

Quince Paste is a FIRM, STICKY, SWEET Jelly from the Iberian Peninsula

Cheese and Quince Paste – A Perfect Pairing

One of our favorite places Lindsay (my wife) and I like to walk is Palisades Park. We go on Wednesdays so we can visit the Santa Monica Farmers Market, a quintessential slice of SoCal life. There are roughly 75 Californian farms selling their beautiful freshly picked fruits and veggies. Since Lindsay is an amazing chef, she grabs some fresh ingredients. This week it was beautiful Quince from The Mud Creek Ranch and Passion Fruit from another farm. Visit Lindsay’s amazing blog now www.StarfishintheKitchen.com and/or visit her instagram page . On the blog he shares her amazing Keto based creations!

A few snapshots from the market:

Santa Monica is also home to one of our favorite restaurants, Fig – but that’s another story for another time. However it relate as they serve amazing plates which often comes with quince paste, aka Membrillo. What is Quince? It’s a hard fruit available in the fall that looks like a cross between an apple and a pear. It’s not something you want to eat raw. When they cook they turn pink and have a sweet floral aroma.

Quince paste is generally sold in squares or blocks, then cut into thin slices and spread over toasted bread or sandwiches,plain or with cheese, often served for breakfast or as a snack, with manchego, mató, or Picón cheese (Spain) or Queijo da Serra da Estrela, Serra da Estrela cheese de Azeitão Queijo de Azeitão or São Jorge cheeses (Portugal). It is also often used to stuff pastries.

What is Quince Paste?

The paste is a sweet, thick jelly made of the pulp of the quince fruit. This paste is traditionally and predominantly from the Iberian Peninsula, where it is called dulce de membrillo. It’s a firm, sticky, sweet reddish hard paste made of the quince fruit. It is also very popular in Brazil, France, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Paraguay and Uruguay, Italy and Peru.

History

From our friends at Wikipedia, “The recipe is probably of ancient origin; the Roman cookbook of Apicius a collection of Roman cookery recipes compiled in the late 4th or early 5th century AD gives recipes for stewing quince with honey. Historically, marmalade was made from quinces. The English word “marmalade” comes from the Portuguese word marmelada, meaning “quince preparation”

If I’ve sparked your interest but you don’t want to commit to making it now, here’s a link for Quince Paste that pairs well with Cheese, Almonds and Fig Spread!

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INGREDIENTS

2 to 3 quinces

1/2 lemon (juiced)

1 1/2 to 2 cups sugar

1 pinch of salt

Directions

Wash, peel and core. Coarsely chop the fruit and add to a big pan.
Wrap the cores and peels in cheesecloth, secure the bag with string and add it to the pan.
Pour in water and cover the quinces and boil for roughly 30 to 40 minutes or until the fruit becomes soft. Remove the bag of peels process the flesh through a sieve.
Move the pulp to a saucepan and add the sugar. Stir over low heat until all the sugar is dissolved. Cooke for about 1.5 hours, stir frequently with until the paste becomes thick and has a deep orange color.
Using a 9×13-inch baking dish, line it with greased parchment paper. Move the quince paste to the dish, spreading it about 1 1/2-inch thick.
Dry the paste on the lowest oven setting, (no more than 125 degrees
Fahrenheit) for roughly 1.5 hours. Allow the paste to cool before slicing.
Quince paste in best stored an airtight container in the fridge.