Pâte de Coing / Quince Paste

The sells woman from the fruit and vegetable shop asked me with great curiosity what I'm using for all the quinces I'm buying. She has no idea but I'm buying from other places too. Actually, wherever I see quinces, I'm sold. I love their flavour so much that sometimes I eat them plain, just poached, with nothing added. But I also made quince jelly, quince frangipane tarts and galettes, quince jam with slaked lime. This quince paste was made in November but I'm still keeping a couple pieces in the fridge just to see how long it will last. And it is still fresh. My concerns were that I used less sugar than most of the recipes suggest but I wanted the quince to be the leading taste, not the sugar. Apparently my recipe worked fine and I'll try it again the next quince season.

Pâte de Coing (Quince Paste) Recipe:

• 850 gr quinces (around 3 quinces), cored, peeled and diced to 1 cm pieces;
• 300 gr water;
• 500 gr sugar.

Note: Although quince's peels and the core contain the most pectin I didn't use them for the paste since the flesh itself is rich in pectin too. Instead I added them to two more quinces and made jelly.

Line a 20 cm ring with paper.

In a heavy bottomed sauce pan with a lid, combine water and quince pieces. The water won't cover them, but no problem. Stirring now and then, simmer until fork tender on a medium-low. Let the mixture cool a bit and puree using an immersion blender. Add the sugar and keep simmering on a medium-low heat stirring all the time. Keep stirring till the mixture reaches 106ºC but beware since it bubbles up wildly. If not using a thermometer – it is ready when it becomes pretty thick and if you pour a small amount of the mixture on a cold plate it would set very quick. Then pour into the paper lined ring. Allow to cool completely then cut at whatever shape you like.

Keep in a airtight container in the fridge.