Quince Jam

I never heard of quince until my husband introduced me to it. It looks sort of like an apple, but tastes like a splintered piece of wood. But my husband loves it so much so that he makes jelly/jam out of it. Last weekend we came across some quince at the Wegman’s on our way home from Lynchburg. So he had his sights set on making one of his favorite concoctions this week. Yesterday was the day. He started by cutting the very hard fruit in to tiny pieces, then dumping it in to the pan along with vanilla, sugar, lemon juice and water. It simmered on the stove for quite a while. He had to keep his eye on the contents making sure there was enough water and sugar as it started to evaporate. I usually smell the vanilla drift throughout the house - a very pleasant smell but it wasn’t as obvious. It took about two hours to create the stuff. He then poured it all in to two containers where it now sits in the refrigerator. The tasting starts tomorrow with breakfast. I hope he likes it! 

Quince Jelly

Whenever we walk to the US Botanical garden, my husband takes notice of the quince tree regardless of the season. We had a quince bush growing in our front yard in Milwaukee. It only blossomed, but never produced the quince. It tastes kind of like a wooden apple, but he loves it. So this was the perfect weekend to make some quince jelly - something he does every year. We needed to pick up a few items at the grocery store and they they were - sitting in the fruit department waiting to be snagged by my husband who is always on the look out for them. It takes a whole lot of sugar and lemon juice, and I'm not sure what else. A recipe is never used. But when it is over, there is enough jelly to fill many containers. Today he had the homemade jelly with bread, and it was really good - to him. One of these days I should make some labels for his canning expertise and his enthusiasm.