Quince may sound mysterious (if it does, read part 1), but poaching quince couldn’t be a simpler task. It could even be your first attempt at cooking. The part I would worry about is peeling the quince. You need a very sharp knife and be extra careful please!
Do you remember the butterfly tank in your elementary school classroom? You raised caterpillars, fed them, watched them form cocoons, and then spring came and you got beautiful butterflies. For me, poaching quince is the fall counterpart.
The quince start turning brown quickly as you peel them. They end up looking like old apples or pears…
But they emerge from the poaching liquid with tints of pink and orange and a little bit of shimmer. (The color will vary depending on how dark your honey is. I used a dark one so there is a lot of orange. If you use a lighter honey, it will be more pink.)
I was inspired by David’s Rosy Poached Quince because he used honey in the poaching liquid. I didn’t have vanilla beans in stock so I decided on doing Ginger Poached Quince, which just adds to that very fall feel that quince embodies. The resulting tender fruit is like a ginger honey candy, and so aromatic. For a second I was thinking about how I could wear it instead of eat it.
Ginger Poached Quince
~12 small servings
- 4 cups water
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1″ piece of ginger, cut in half and smashed
- 3 quince
1. Combine water, sugar, honey, and ginger in a medium sized pot. Bring to a boil.
2. Peel quince (carefully!) and quarter, removing core. You can place pieces of quince into poaching liquid as it’s heating.
3. When everything it in and it comes to a boil, reduce to a simmer. Cover with a piece of parchment paper with a 1″ hole cut out in the center. Simmer for 1 to 2 hours (quince will vary), or until fork pierces the quince easily. You can serve warm, room temperature, or cold.
Store the quince in it’s poaching liquid, in a sealed container, in the fridge. Keeps for one week.
Serving suggestions –
- serve as is, by itself
- serve with pork
- serve with fruits and nuts
- serve with cheese
- serve on vanilla ice cream (David Lebovitz’ suggestion)
- serve with a light sponge cake
What a delicious recipe this is!! We can find fresh quices right at the multi cultural market, here in Brussels!!
I so love the taste of & quice with ginger!! That’s neat!
That sounds so neat! I’d never heard of quince before!
Looks great, I wonder if you could put this in pickling jars for long storage.
I haven’t cooked with quince yet but I’ve seen it in Wegmans! It sounds wonderful poached with ginger, definitely a must try!
Bill, I don’t know. I’m not an expert on quince, or pickling really.
I adore quince! I often just make them into quince paste 🙂 you dish looks really beautiful