Quince

“They dined on mince, and slices of quince, Which they ate with a runcible spoon; And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand, They danced by the light of the moon”
Edward Lear

Edward Lear's characters the Owl and the Pussycat eat slices of quince with a "runcible spoon." Lear invented the word "runcible" which appears in a few of his poems and it would appear that a "runcilbe spoon" has a range of definitions from a spork, a ladle, a double sided spoon, a grapefruit spoon or a pickle spoon. Many of the above descriptions note a serrated edge which would make perfect (non)sense for an Owl and a Pussycat to easily share their slices of quince. Even post-poached the hardy quince still maintains its texture which isn't surprising if you've ever prepared quinces as they put the sharpest knife through it's paces to get through the hard flesh of the quince.

My only interaction with quince was seeing them over the church wall in the Vicar's garden in Orford and eating membrillo in Spain. After reading about their roots, travels and folklore from the Middle East and throughout I learnt that marmalade was traditionally made in the Middle East with quince and honey. In fact the Portuguese word for quince is "marmelo" and their preserve of it became know n as "marmalada" which we would recognise as quince paste or quiddany (also known as membrillo, codignat or mela cotogna in Spain, France and Italy respectively). Although we now associate marmalade with citrus fruits, it is only relatively recently that this has been the case as oranges and citrus fruits became more readily available in the 16th and 17th centuries.

This year I truly got my hands on a proper quantity of quince thanks to my friend Joshua and the quince tree in his parents garden. Joshua did all the dare-devil climbing and navigating the branches to drop the quince into my waiting hands and not my face as each quince, no matter how small, has a weight and density far heavier than expected. We gathered about 20 kilos of quince and then I carted 12 of those kilos across and up a gorgeously sunny Primrose Hill. I actually questioned this decision about half way up the hill when I was sweating, the sun was in my eye and I felt that with each step my knees might buckle under the quince on my back and in my hands.

From the 12 kilos I was able to experiment to my hearts desire with all sorts of quince recipes including quince jelly, quince "friendship" jam, membrillo, membrillo jam, quince brandy and more. My 12 kilo quince hall should have been a sign that quince are challenging yet glorious. A simple cleaning will not do with a quince but they do require a proper scrub in order to remove the fuzz that clings to them. I've found that soaking them for a bit and then going at them with a vegetable scrubber under running water is perfect and reveals their lovely, squeaky clean skin. Getting to the flesh requires strength, patience and attention as their flesh is notoriously hard to peel, chop, slice or grate. For most of my recipes I try to avoid peeling any fruit as that is where lots of the flavour and vitamins often are.

Joshua has been so generous with his quince tips for membrillo, jam, crumbles, brandy and my favourite tip of his was to pop a quince in your wardrobe and let the distinctly floral and fruity fragrance scent your clothes and linen. It's their aroma, shape, longevity, history and versatility that, in my opinion, places them at the top of the fruit kingdom. Links coming shortly for specific recipes and my attempt to respect and honour the quince so kindly given to me by Joshua and I am so grateful because this glut of quince was a highlight of my preserving year - thanks!

Mincemeat

There was a time when all mincemeat would be homemade and members of the family would be expected to give the pot a stir for good luck. Every year I make a massive batch of mincemeat which I use throughout the following years' holiday season for mince pies, mince shortbread and I use my own mincemeat in my Christmas cake and Christmas pudding which saves time and cannot be beat for taste. I always include a homemade brandy to my mincemeat which is normally a cherry brandy but this year I have made my first quince brandy which I have added to my mincemeat recipe as well as adding chopped pieces of the strained quince which flavoured the quince brandy. I added a jar of black cherry and black pepper compote that I had made in July. To that I added bramley apples, preserved and crystallised ginger, lots of wintery spices and rum as well as the divine quince brandy. I think that mincemeat needs at least a month to rest before enjoying and I store mine in a cool, dark place for one year.

Today is mincemeat making day, which actually began yesterday with several stages that started in earnest in July. I'm teaching a Christmas Healthy Eating series of workshops at Comet Children's Centre and I have been telling the families on the course that mincemeat is a traditional course with no traditions, no right or wrong. If you don't like nuts don't add them, if you don't like raisins try dried apricots or figs. For the mincemeat that we made on the course we did not add alcohol as it's a Children's Centre but it is still delicious and we have been converting it into mince pies, mini Christmas cake muffins and mincemeat shortbread. I'm proud to say that I have changed many a guest's opinion who has proudly stated that they don't like mince pies or Christmas pudding. I'm sure that the preservatives added to store bought items bring a sacrifice in flavour. Besides just the flavour, the sacrifice of time spent on making homemade mincemeat can be a recapture of old traditions that we have lost.

Beetroot & Black Carrot Cake with Nutty Six-Pepper Jelly Ice Cream

This is the Beetroot and black carrot cake served with homemade vanilla ice cream with mixed nuts roasted in six-pepper jelly with sea salt and demerara sugar and topped with candied black carrots.

It was such an enjoyable cake to make from start to finish and it finished by being one of the best cakes that I have ever made. It was put together in my favourite way to cook; I was inspired by a recipe that I had eaten, a seasonal ingredient obsession, something catching my eye, adding in an old favourite and a bit of a challenge. I was making a pudding to follow an amazing meal prepared by the incredible Frank About Food which is a pretty hard act to follow so I was looking to creating something a bit special. My cousin Sharon's courgette cake acted as my inspiration as it's delicious and I needed something totally chocolate free. I went to Swiss Cottage Green Grocers and spotted some black carrots that I thought I would want in my cake I was pre-building in my head. I'm obsessed with beetroot so I thought that would add some more natural sweetness and help with moisture. It ended up being such a light, flavourful, moist cake which went really well with the ice cream and all the different textures, with the ocassional salt and bitter tones from the sea salt and candied black carrots respectively.

Meringues

Any excuse to make meringue. They also conveniently make great little holders for Smy Goodness preserves and more. Clockwise from top left are:

• Lemon curd with candied lemon peel, cream and fresh raspberries
• Fresh mango circles marinated in Seville orange marmalade and cardamom topped with toasted pistachios and cream
• Black cherry & black pepper compote with almonds and cream
• Strawberry & balsamic vinegar compote with almonds, fresh strawberrries and cream
• Passionfruit jam topped with toasted macadamia nuts and cream.

I love eating and making meringues all year round including boozy Christmas-y toppings like winter berries stewed in cherry brandy made in the summer. The meringues can be made as individual servings, as large centre pieces or as bite size portions with different toppings.

Sumptuous Spread

Meats

• Salame
• Prosciutto
• Roast chicken
• Roast duck

  Preserves

 

• Six-pepper jelly
• Black cherry & black pepper compote
• Apple and pepper chutney
• Pumpkin & pomengranite chutney
• Plum gumbo
• Seville orange marmalade

Etc.

• Homemade bread, ciabatta and baguette
• Pickled beetroot
• Pickled cabbage
• Olives
• Cava
• Vegetable Juice

Cheese:

• Gorgonzola
• Red Leicester
• Stilton
• Colby
• Manchego

 

Plum Jam - Jam & Chutney Making course 13/11/14

Here are some photos and the recipe from the second week of the six-week jam and chutney making course at Daubeney Children's Centre in hackney, London. You may recall that we made

pineapple and passion fruit jam in week one

. The feedback was that all the families enjoyed the jam, even children who generally do not eat much jam. I always tell customers and students that jam isn't just for toast, I put a spoonful in porridge for breakfast in the winter and in natural yoghurt in summer or an all-year round snack. I also use jam as a binder when making oatcakes, use it in muffins and in jam tarts.

This week we made plum jam. I always keep it seasonal for Smy Chutney and for the courses so this was the perfect time of the year to make plum jam.

This recipe makes such a beautiful, deep red jam, notice it up the sides of the pan and the wall.

Here is lovely Lola stirring the jam. She makes stunning cakes so we chatted a lot about different recipes that can be added to cakes, tarts and puddings. 

Plum Jam Recipe

Ingredients:

2 k Plums

2 k Sugar

2 Lemon

1. Select fully ripe plums with which to make the jam
2. Wash and rinse the fruit.
3. Carefully remove all stems, pits, skins, and blossoms, if necessary, from the plums.
4. Cut the fruit into pieces and make sure to remove each plum stone and discard.
5. Measure the fruit and place in a large saucepan.
6. Stir in the correct amount of sugar for the recipe and keep stirring as you bring the mixture to a boil.
7. Continue stirring until the mixture thickens.
8. You will need to test that the mixture has reached its setting point, or readiness for jarring, keeping in mind that the mixture will continue to thicken slightly as it cools.  There are two methods for testing: Refrigerator test – Place a plate in your refrigerator while you are making the jam. When you think that the jam is ready, remove the plate and allow a few drops of the mixture to drop onto the plate. After a few minutes, check to see if the mixture has gelled.  Push the droplet with your finger and if it wrinkles it is ready to place in your sterilised jars. Temperature test – Using a thermometer to test that the mixture has reached the optimum temperature for your altitude:  Anywhere from a sea level of 300 metres to 8,000 metres will be alright to reach a temperature of 220°C.
9. Once the mixture is ready, remove it from the heat and skim off any foam that may have formed on the surface.
10. Pour the mixture into sterile jars (see above), leaving .5 cm headspace.
11. Use a clean, damp piece of kitchen towel to wipe the rims of the jars.
12. Top each jar with a lid, screw on the cover tightly and allow to cool.
13. The jam will be best if eaten within one year, refrigerate once open.

Pineapple & Passion Fruit Jam - Jam & Chutney Making course 06/11/14

I recently taught a six week course in jam and chutney making at Daubeney Children's Centre in Hackney, London for local families. The course was open to parents and carers to learn the basics of jam and chutney making, food handling and preparation, health and safety and how the resulting jams

and chutneys could be used. The first recipe that we covered was pineapple and passion fruit jam.

I love combining pineapple with other fruits such as strawberries or mango when making jam and passion fruit also pairs very well with pineapple.

The facilities at Daubeney are wonderful, as are the staff and it was a great six-weeks meeting and sharing with them. I would also like to especially thank Lola who attended with her daughter for their enthusiasm and sharing with me her passion, skills and creativity for cookery and especially cake-making. I am always learning as well! 

We used a play room with a fully equipped kitchen so that we could prepare and involve the children in identifying the fruit, tasting the fruit and helping to prepare the recipes. It was great to introduce fruits that some of the families had not tried before or had not eaten much of because they weren't familiar with how to choose or prepare them. We followed the recipe below and measured, chopped, strained , stirred, cooked and poured our jams into the sterlised jars.

The families also decorated labels for their jam creations inspired by the days activities and ingredients. All the families took a jar of the jam that they made home with them and all the additional jars that we made were sold at a Christmas fair held at Daubeney Children's Centre.

I'll be posting some photos and recipes from the six-week course at Daubeney as well as workshops held at other Children's Centre's. I will also be sharing other arts and crafts workshops that I have been teaching.

Pineapple and Passion Fruit Jam Recipe

Ingredients:

1.5 k pineapple after removing the skin, eyes and core

1.5 k passion fruit which will give you roughly 300ml of strained juice

1.5k sugar

1-2 lemons

Yield:

This recipe yielded 6 x 500ml jars and one 500ml jar that as not fully filled so we used this to smother the still warm jam onto toast to share amongst ourselves and the Centre.

1. Take the pineapple and cut off the top and bottom. Stand the pineapple on the chopping board and remove the outer skin and then remove all the brown “eyes” from the outside. Cut the pineapple in half lengthways and then cut each half lengthways again so that you have quartered it. Then remove the core from each quarter segment and then chop the pineapple into small chunks. A top tip given by one of the mums is to refridgerate segments of pineapple cores and let teething babies gnaw on them to soothe their aching gums.
2. Take the passion fruits and cut each one in half and use a spoon to scoop out the flesh and seeds into a measuring cup. Then pour the flesh and seeds into a sieve over a bowl and use the back of a spoon or plastic spatula to press the juice into the bowl. You can reserve the seeds to add to your jam if desired, since we were sharing our jams with children we decided to not add any seeds. Remaining seeds can be dried and roasted to make a healthy snack or addition to salads.
3. Measure your pineapple and passion fruit juice and take note of the amounts.
4. For each 1 k of fruit take one lemon and cut in half and put the juice into a measuring jug making sure to remove any seeds.
5. Measure out the same amount of sugar as there is fruit.
6. Add the pineapple, passion fruit juice, sugar and lemon juice to your pan.
7. Continue stirring until the sugar disintegrates and keep stirring until thickened.
8. If small children will be eating the jam and you are worried about larger chunks, once the sugar has disintegrated you can remove the pan from the heat and use a hand blender to make the mixture smoother, if so desired.
9. The mixture may start to boil and you can keep stirring and reduce the heat. Once it has settled you can raise the heat again and keep stirring and repeat until the jam is of the desired thickness.
10. You will need to test that the mixture has reached its setting point, or readiness to put in jars, keeping in mind that the mixture will continue to thicken slightly as it cools.  There are two methods for testing: Refrigerator test – Place a plate in your refrigerator while you are making the jam. When you think that the jam is ready, remove the plate and allow a few drops of the mixture to drop onto the plate. After a few minutes, check to see if the mixture has gelled.  Push the droplet with your finger and if it wrinkles it is ready to place in your sterilised jars. Temperature test – Using a thermometer to test that the mixture has reached the optimum temperature for your altitude: Anywhere from a sea level of 300 metres to 8,000 metres will be alright to reach a temperature of 220°C.
11. Once the mixture is ready, remove it from the heat and skim off any foam that may have formed on the surface.
12. Pour the mixture into sterile jars, leaving .5 cm headspace from top of the jar to top of the jam.
13. Use a clean piece of kitchen towel to wipe the rims of the jars.
14. Top each jar with a lid, screw on the cover tightly and allow to cool. Store in a dark, dry, cool place.
15. The jam will be best if eaten within one year, refrigerate once open.