homemade quince paste with aged cheddar, hazelnut cranberry crackers

Last week, my husband came home with four quinces, a gift for me from one of his colleagues. I have never tried making quince paste before, and so I set out to give it a try. Making your own quince paste takes a bit of time, but much of it is inactive time–you don’t need to watch it while it simmers on the stove, and you only need to give the pan a stir every 5-10 minutes after you’ve drained the cooked fruit. From then on, it goes into the oven for about an hour at a low temperature.

The rewards are manifold. The fragrance of quince paste is like that of vanilla and pineapple. Its flavor is lightly floral. I have been savoring it with chunks of aged cheese (manchego is traditional), and cranberry hazelnut crackers.

Some recipes suggest flavoring the quince paste with vanilla bean and/or cinnamon, but the aroma of these fruits was so heady, I decided I wanted to keep the paste as natural as possible.

Homemade quince paste

4 quinces, peeled, cored, and diced

1 1/2 tsp finely grated lemon zest

1 1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

sugar to taste (I used 1 1/3 cups of granulated sugar for 1 3/4 cups of puréed fruit)

In a heavy-potted pot, place the diced quince, lemon zest, juice, and enough water to cover. Simmer the fruit on medium heat for about 45 minutes, until the fruit is tender when pierced through with a knife.

Drain the pot, discarding the water. (Leave the lemon zest in with the poached quince.) Add 1 1/3 cups of sugar to the fruit, and purée with a food processor or immersion blender. Taste, adding more sugar if needed. Simmer the paste on low heat for about 1 hr. 15 minutes, giving it a stir every 10 minutes or so. The color will change from pale orange to dark orange, and the quince purée will thicken slightly.

Line a small Pyrex pan with parchment. Spread the quince paste into an even layer about 1/2″ thick. Bake at 125 degrees for about an hour, checking to see if the paste is set by lightly pressing your finger onto the surface. If it has not set after an hour, leave it in for another 15 minutes. Turn off the oven, and let the quince set in the oven for a few hours, or overnight.