Quince Candy 102...Success And Quincelets Are Born!

Quincelets are born!

Sometimes digging a little deeper to find answers helps.  After the dismal results from my first attempt at making quince candy I decided to look for recipes for a different type of candy that also uses fruit that I could substitute quince for.  Enter "Aplets and Cotlets".  It is exactly what I was hoping for and I am excited to say that it works beautifully.  So today I got busy reworking the recipe to fit the vision I had for this sweet treat.  I call the new candy "Quincelets", a spin-off of the candy it was inspired by.  So without further ado....here is the recipe.

Quincelets
Pre-cook fruit for candy preparations:
Peal core and dice 12 cups of quince and place in a crock-pot with 5-6 cups water (approximately)
Set on low and cook for 3 hours, more if you want the fruit to turn pink
Drain fruit and reserve juice for later use

Ingredients to make candy:
2 cups cooked quince
1/2 cup and 2 Tbs reserved juice (10 Tbs)
5 Tbs  plus 1 tsp unflavored gelatin (6 envelopes)
2 cups cold water
2 Tbs food grade rose water or ¼ tsp real rose essential oil
(**You may use 2 Tbs fresh lemon juice in place of rose water**)
2 cups coarse chopped pistachios sifted to remove fines and reserve. (There will be about 1/2 cup.)

Topping:
½ cup pistachio fines (reserved from chopping)
6 oz Bittersweet chocolate (70% cacao)
1/2 tsp unsalted butter

Directions:

• Butter a 9”x 13” baking sheet (also known as a quarter sheet pan).
• Place the cooked quince and 10 Tbs. reserved juice into the food processor and process it until it is smooth sauce.  Stop the processor and scrape down the sides.  Afterward if you want you can run the processed fruit through a wire sieve if you want perfectly smooth sauce.
• Place the quince sauce in a heavy bottomed saucepan and heat to a simmer.  NOTE: Check the texture of the fruit and if it seems too course, like its not cooked enough, just simmer for about 15 minutes or until the fruit softens, adding an additional 2 Tbs juice (approx) and stirring frequently to avoid scorching the fruit.
• Add sugar to the fruit, stirring until dissolved.  Take the pan off the heat.
• In a small bowl add cold water and gelatin together and stir until completely blended.  Add to the fruit in the pan, stir constantly until completely dissolved.

Rose Water is magic!

• Add rose water (or lemon juice) and stir well.
• Lastly add the chopped nuts, mixing well and pour the mixture into the buttered baking sheet.  Set this aside to cool and set.  It will set in about 2 hours at room temperature and you can leave it to set overnight (recommended time).  If you are in a hurry you can place the pan in the fridge to hasten this process thought the candy benefits from the drying time of being in room temperature.

Mixture is poured and waiting to set

• Once set cut the candy into 1” squares using a sharp buttered knife and place on a wire rack on top of a baking sheet.
• Top with Chocolate and the reserved nut fines (see below).

Topping instructions:
Melt bittersweet chocolate in a double boiler over low heat, stirring until completely melted.  Spoon or brush melted chocolate onto candy and let firm up a bit.  Finally dust the tops of each piece with reserved pistachio fines and set aside until chocolate is hardened.

I chose not to roll the firmed up candy in confectioners sugar as the original recipe and others called for because when I tested it, the fruit began to juice and was messy to handle.  Also, I had considered using fresh lemon juice instead of  rose water because of the zest it would add and I have to say, I am very glad I chose the rose water. I tasted the fruit before adding it and my first thought was, "Well that's nothing to write home to Mother about."  Then I added the rosewater and tasted it and WOW!  (I swear I heard angles singing!) It adds such a beautiful layer of fragrance and flavor the only way to describe it is "pure delight".

I also wanted to give credit for the source of the original recipe I used as the template for this new recipe.  I recommend you visit their site as they also give a bit of history on the candy recipe which, by the way, was created here in the Pacific Northwest.  I found it very interesting and inspiring to see how a simple idea can become a classic favorite.  My hat is off to the fellows that were my inspiration. 

Quince 101 candy final results, acceptable

Before I forget, to close the chapter on that first recipe from the Quince 101 post.  To dry out the candy enough to be able to handle it I baked it in the oven at 200 degrees for 3 hours to further dry it out.  That made it stiff enough to be able to pick up so I coated it with sugar, put the pieces on parchment paper and stacked them in little trays where they await delivery as gifts. 


Another thing I will do differently is to be sure to run the fruit through a food mill or sieve before making the candy for a smoother finish to the product, a point two recipes I worked from left out.  The quince candy will make nice gifts at Christmas and does taste good on crackers with a good cheese so I still recommend making that recipe too.

Now that I have conquered the candy recipe I think I'll take a break from Quince for a while...but maybe I'll have just one more Quincelet before I do.




Copyright © 2011 by Patty Hicks
All rights reserved. No part of this blog may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review. All reviews must include author's name and a link back to this blog.

Quince Candy 101...oops

Quince (Cydonia oblonga 'Van Damen') in my husband's large mits

Looking for the perfect quince candy recipe?  So am I. This post was supposed to be about quince candy that was a bite of heaven but this recipe turned out more like chunky jam instead.  I made some once before but could not for the life of me find the recipe I used (its probably hiding someplace safe) so I had to find a new one online.  So why am I writing this blog at all you ask…because evaluating what didn’t work and tweaking the original recipe will help us discover what will work. 

What is the big deal about quince candy anyway?  For starters it is said to be equivalent to Turkish Delight when made properly but for me, finding that recipe has become a good puzzle and I love the reward of solving puzzles.  Besides if we get this one right there will be one stellar recipe for quince candy out there that everyone can enjoy!

First off let me say that making quince candy does take some patience but it is worth it and is really quite pretty as well as an unusual and delightful confection...well normally it is.  So here is the recipe I followed.

Lets get started!

PART 1
First I peeled, cored and dice enough fruit to fill my Dutch oven about three quarters full. The recipe I used didn’t specify what amount of raw fruit was to be used so I guess and would recommend 10 cups.  If you have more than you need you can always sweeten it and use it on waffles, (we love quince sauce on waffles).

This is simmering too hard, thus the excess foaming of the fruit.

I poured in enough water in to cover the fruit well and added 1 ½ tbs. fresh lemon juice. (Lemon juice helps to keep the fruit from turning brown.) I covered the pot and set it on medium high heat until it began to simmer nicely and then took the lid off and turned the heat to medium low so it simmers slowly until the fruit was tender.

Save the juice and reduce down for later use

The original recipe said it would take 20 to 30 minutes…I’m guessing the author of the recipe I was using cut their fruit into large chunks and I had cut mine into 1” diced bits which cooked twice as fast and were actually starting to fall apart.

Next I drained the fruit.  Because the fruit was cooked past being tender I had to be sure the strainer I used to drain the fruit didn’t allow for the smashed bits to run on through with the juice when it was strained.  A medium sized wire strainer worked great for this with only the tiniest bit of fruit getting through.

PART 2
I weighed the drained fruit, which came to 4 pounds…exactly what the recipe called for (got lucky on that one) putting the drained fruit into the pot.  I added an equal weight of sugar to the pot as the recipe called for, added 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice and stirred it to blend. (Equivalents for cups are noted below for your convenience.)

Do not hurry this pot or you'll scorch the sugar

I set the heat to medium low and sat watch over the pan, stirring frequently too avoid burning the sugar for 2 ½ hours until the fruit was thick enough that the spoon left a visible trench behind it when run through the middle. (Again as the recipe directed)

The natural color of quince when cooked long enough.

Hot fruit into the pan and spread evenly

Run your hand over the paper to smooth the candy

The fruit was then poured onto a large jellyroll pan lined with parchment paper, spread evenly to about ½’ thick and covered on top with a second sheet of parchment and left to dry 36 hours.  The recipe called for only 24 hours but it seemed too moist to me so I gave it a little extra drying time.  My pan was a bit larger than needed.

Good morning my sweetness, you look so lovely.

This morning I lifted the paper and was not very pleased with how moist and sticky the fruit was.  I could have left it to dry on its own but since I don’t have anywhere to stash a large baking sheet for a week, I decided to try using my oven set at 200 degrees and dry it like fruit leather.  It was in the oven for about an hour. 

Hmmm...chunky candy it's not supposed to be.

I admit I was impatient and this didn’t work very well either as the edges dried only a little bit but the center was still too moist.  I think adding some gelatin to the fruit would really have helped in this recipe so one could actually pick it up with their fingers but as it stands…I recommend a spoon.  I will try the gelatin and the methods I recommend in the notes below in the 102 version so stay tuned.

NOTES:

• Smaller pieces take less time to cook than larger ones.
• Fruit is chunky so I recommend processing fruit in a food processor before returning it to the pan or the candy will come out chunky as well.  
• Quince fruit is a bit grainy in texture so I am looking for a way to reduce this character and still keep the valuable pulp in the candy.
• Be sure the parchment is up on the sides of the pan so you can extract the candy without it sticking to the sides or bottom
• Weight to cups equivalents for both fruit and sugar: 8 cups = 4 pounds or 2 cups = 1 pound. (Makes it really easy if you want to half or quarter the recipe)
• Save the water you drain off of the fruit and use it for a spiced drink or cook it down to capture the pectin which quince are famous for.

Enjoy!


Copyright © 2011 by Patty Hicks
All rights reserved. No part of this blog may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review. All reviews must include author's name and a link back to this blog.