Quince Butter

Last Week I thought I would have a go at preserving some of the fruit which Penny has grown.  The fruit was really hard, and by the time I had prepared the fruit for cooking, I had blisters!  I just cut them into quarters, and removed the stalk and blossom end, since I was going to be sieving the whole lot.

The fruit turns brown really quickly, and I used some lemon juice, but later read up that since the fruit turns pink in the heat, the browning is of no consequence.  I had some 'apple stock' and also added this to the pan in place of some of the water.  I sieved the fruit plump, to get 2 pints of puree, and with 1.5 pints sugar, got 5 jars of something between a quince butter and quince cheese.

Since this was called a 'butter', and the recipe called for a knob of butter to disperse the scum, I added a small piece, and was amazed by how quickly the bubbles around the very small piece, about a level teaspoon dispersed.  The yield was 5 jars of 240g.  Penny has kindly offered a few more of her choice tree ripened quinces, so I shall have another go at preserving them in some other format. 

For next year I have sourced some small wide necked jars for 'cheeses', which will be better as the cheeses can be unmoulded onto a seving dish.