Poached quince with spices
Cooking quince slowly, with its peel and core, helps to achieve its characteristic deep pink colour. If you plan to cook quince a few times in the season, reserve the cooking syrup and add it to the next batch. This will create a deeper colour and flavour.
Ingredients
2 large quince
3 cups caster sugar
5 cups water
2 cinnamon sticks
3 star anise
3 cloves
2 bay leaves
10 black peppercorns
Peel of one lemon
1 cup quince poaching syrup*
Method
Peel, quarter and remove cores from quince. Reserve peel and cores. Bring remaining ingredients to the boil in a heavy-based saucepan.
Add quince, peel and cores and cover with baking paper. Use a plate to keep quince submerged.
Cover with a lid and simmer for 2-3 hours or until soft with a deep pink colour. Remove fruit, strain syrup, discarding peel, cores and spices, and serve quince warm with a little syrup, ice-cream or cream. It can also be served chilled.
* Reserved from a previously cooked batch of quince. If you don't have it, simply omit from the recipe - no extra liquid is required.
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