Learning with Larousse: Pickled Quince

Who even eats pickled quince? That's what I've been thinking. 

The only way I can describe the fruit is that it's really odd. It constantly looks bruised and looks gone off when you peel it (trust me, I googled it and it generally looks like that!) 

Pickled quince, on the other hand, is also a strange one. Because I have vowed to try new things for this blog series, I was willing to give it ago, no matter how much I thought I wasn't going to like it. Let's just say that it's a required taste. Its texture is similar to a pear and the taste is stronger than a pickled onion. The 'acetomel' syrup mixture really needs to be sweeter, in my opinion. Acetemol is a sweet and sour mixture used for preserves, most likely in the past - do any of you still use this?

The word comes from two Latin words: Acetum (vinegar) and mel (honey).

As the Larousse book did not give a recipe, I did some research and decided to follow Nigel Slater's Pickled Quince Recipe, which used cider vinegar and golden granulated sugar, which I replaced with honey. Here's what I did...

Ingredients

750ml Cider vinegar

200g honey

2 Medium sized quinces

12 juniper berries

8 black peppercorns

1 bay leaf

You will also need one large, sterilised Kilner jar. Please my mincemeat recipe on how to sterilise jars. 

 

Method

 1. Add the cider vinegar to a stainless steel pan and pour in the honey, juniper berries, black peppercorns and bay leaf - bring to the boil. Once at a boil, bring to simmer.

2. Peel, half and core your quinces and cut them into slices. 

3. Place the slices into the vinegar and cook for 20 minutes, or until soft enough that a skewer goes through. 

4. Once cooked, carefully place the slices into the sterilised jar and pour over the liquid, then seal with the lid. Leave to cool. These will keep in jar, I believe for months since its a preserve, however once opened I would only keep for a couple of weeks. 

As you can see, I tried to help myself like it more by serving it with some Lancashire crumbly cheese, however this was definitely the wrong choice - the cheese is tangy in its own right! Ha. Maybe cheddar would work better...

Have you ever tried pickled quince before? What was it like? How could I make this recipe better?