There is a clever solution to easily peel quinces and I will present it to you here, along with an easy recipe to make homemade sweet quince with arboriza in no time.
Quinces – A Misunderstood Fruit
Quinces are in modern times a rather misunderstood fruit.
This is because it is usually not eaten raw but processed. But they are very hard and difficult to peel.
In a time of plenty, one would hardly bother to peel the hard quince, make it into a spoon sweet, jam or add it to dishes.
How to easily peel quinces
The hardest part of any quince recipe is peeling the quinces.
That’s because it’s a tough fruit. And much harder around the core inside.
So here’s the secret that will take your hands off and make peeling quinces a breeze.
Wash the quinces thoroughly with water and scrub them to remove the outer fuzz.
Dry them with a towel.
Place waxed paper on a baking pan and place them in the pan on the waxed paper.
Preheat the oven to about 175 degrees Celsius.
Place the baking tray with the quinces in the oven for about 20 minutes.
If the quinces are large, after 20 minutes you will need to turn them over and bake them for another 5 minutes. They will be ready when they turn a light brown on the outside.
Remove the baking tray with the quinces from the oven and let them cool for a while so you can comfortably handle them with your hands.
Now with a knife, you can easily remove the outer skin!
Once you have cleaned the outside of the quinces, you can start to remove the flesh very easily in any shape you want.
The quince will slice like a regular apple!
Recipe for quince spoon dessert
The recipe for quince candy is super simple, quick and tried and tested for generations.
The secret is in the proportions.
As much quince, as much water, as much sugar.
For example, for 1 kilo of quince flesh, you will need 1 kilo of water and 1 kilo of sugar. Adjust accordingly.
Boil the water in a pot.
Add the quince pieces and let it boil for at least 10 to 15 minutes of the hour. The exact time depends on the amount of candy you are preparing.
Then add the sugar and stir well to dissolve it.
Continue boiling over medium heat and stir regularly.
During this phase, you will see that at a certain point, our mixture starts to foam. When we stir it, it will foam more.
Continue boiling over medium heat for about half an hour. By now, enough water will have evaporated and our syrup will have started to thicken.
The pieces of quince will still be blond, though.
During the boil, stir periodically.
Add a few arborica leaves, the juice of one lemon and if you want, some peeled almonds (I recommend it).
Bring to a boil once more. Practically that means let it boil for another 5 minutes or so. I stir the mixture at this stage.
I turn off the stove top and continue stirring until the boiling stops. Then I remove the pot from the heat.
When our dessert has cooled, we will have one of the delicious spoon sweets of Greek cuisine and it will have started to take on its characteristic dark color!
Your home will smell wonderful aromas and your palate will be grateful. So will your children and your people!
Try the sweet quince on homemade bread with yeast ή homemade sourdough bread and a little butter. Magic!
Epilogue
The truth is that until I discovered this easy way to peel quinces, I was puzzled about what to do with them.
Peeling them was a very big pain, a deterrent most of the time to making use of them.
So sometimes they would end up in the compost.
Now, every year we make sweet quince every year!
Tags: QUINCE • QUINCE EASY PEELING • QUINCE TREE • RECIPE • SWEET
