Quince // fruit

❄️🍐🤔 Like apples and pears, quinces are in season during the autumn. They are harvested in late autumn, before the first frosts. Did you know that ripe raw quince can keep frozen for a year? Placed pieces of unpeeled quinces in the freezer until you are ready to use them in sweet desserts or savoury dishes. Quince can do it all from pickles to jams, jellies to pies, cakes to stews and of course, the traditional Spanish quince paste called “membrillo”. 

🌱 Discover Grandma Sita’s yummy homemade “membrillo”, a sweet thick reddish paste made by slowly cooking down the pulp of the quince fruit with sugar to enjoy on its own, paired with savoury snacks, used as a thick spread on toast or crackers, or even as a filling for cakes and pastries!

👩‍🍳 Quinces are fruits a lot like a large pear in appearance; they’re also covered with a soft, furry down when ripped. They smell extremely fragrant, but a raw quince is very hard, astringent, bitter and high in tannins once cooked the tannins break down, and the flesh which was once coarse and white becomes tender, sweeter, pink and beautifully fragrant. 

💪 Quince fruit is a great source of dietary fibre, antioxidants and minerals. The fruit contains tannins including catechin and epicatechin and has a very high concentration of vitamin C.

👵💚 Grandma Sita’s tips:
*Ripe quinces turned from a light yellow to a golden colour and are extremely aromatic. Quince will ripen off the tree, so don’t worry if you’re a little bit early.
*Quinces often have small brown patches inside, don’t worry. It doesn’t mean your quince is bad, just get browner as an apple as the oxygen gets to it.
*The skin is edible when cooked, so peeling it is optional but quince seeds need to be removed before eating, seeds are toxic in sufficient quantities.
*Quinces store very well if kept in cool and dry conditions and can keep for a month or two. They have a strong aroma, so it is best to store them away from other fruits.

📗The term marmalade, originally meaning a quince jam, derives from “marmelo”, the Portuguese word for quince fruit.

♻️ Delicious fruit jams, marmalades or compotes are perfect zero-waste ways to cook seasonal ripe fruits. All of us can act at home to reduce our waste and every single one counts. This autumn make plant-based fruit treats, not waste!

🌎Eating local and seasonal fruits and vegetables helps to reduce food waste, saves resources, improves food quality and healthy habits, and boosts the local economy.