Meeting the Queen of Quince + Cinnamon-Poached Quince

Years ago - wow! almost a decade ago now - some of my best friends and I went to an event at a local wine tasting room to celebrate my 39th birthday.

We met the Queen of Quince, Barbara Ghazarian, feasted on some Armenian food, learned to roll Yalanchi Sarma, stuffed grapped leaves, and we picked up signed and personalized copies of her cookbooks.

"Happy quincing," she wrote. It was a great way to ring in my 39th year. And, whenever I see quince in the markets, I usually shriek in glee and scoop up as many as I can without looking like a fruit hoarders. Okay, sometimes I don't care about looking like a fruit hoarder and just buy it all and set to quincing, yes, it's a verb: to quince!

Barbara Ghazarian writes in Simply Quince*, "the old-fashioned, long simmer method on the stove top is the only process that develops the characteristic caramel color and full-bodied flavor of the fruit." I have found that to be the case, so almost all of my quince experiences start with poaching.

Ingredients

8 cups water
1 cup organic granulated sugar
1 cinnamon stick (organic Ceylon cinnamon sticks from RawSpiceBar)**
juice from 3 lemons or limes
8 cups quince, peeled, cored, and sliced into wedges

Procedure

Combine water, sugar, lemon or lime juice in a heavy-bottomed pan and bring to a boil to dissolve the sugar. Add the quince and cinnamon stick. Simmer uncovered for 75 to 90 minutes until the quince is tender.

The fruit will turn golden, then a pinkish apricot color. Spoon the fruit into sterilized jars, insert a cinnamon stick, cover with poaching liquid. As the quince cools, the jar will seal. Refrigerate and use within two to three weeks. Or you can process them in a water bath and they will hold for longer in your pantry.

We used some of these rose-colored slightly sweet poached quince wedges with a hint of cinnamon as a bed for our carrot-potato latkes on the first night of Hannukah. Stay tuned for that recipe...

*This blog currently has a partnership with Amazon.com in their affiliate program, which gives me a small percentage of sales if you buy a product through a link on my blog. It doesn't cost you anything more. If you are uncomfortable with this, feel free to go directly to Amazon.com and search for the item of your choice.

**I am an affiliate of rawspicebar.com and may receive a commission for any purchases made through provided links. However, it doesn't cost you anything extra and I appreciate the support.

Comments

Caulibits Crni Rižoto (Croatian Black "Risotto") #Whole30

Last week, I participated in the Wine Pairing Weekend event 'New Year, New Wine." I paired Crni Rižoto with Dingac Vinarija’s Pelješac...and you can read my post: here . I was pouring a Croatian wine and decided to make a traditional Croatian dish. Every seafood restaurant in Croatia has a Crni Rižoto (black risotto) on its menu. Crni Rižoto is risotto dyed black with squid ink; I used cuttlefish ink for the same effect. However, since arborio rice is not Whole30 compliant, I made a version for myself that used caulibits instead of rice. Ingredients 1 C fish stock (or a combination of fish stock and vegetable stock) 1 T olive oil 1 medium shallots, peeled and minced 1 cloves garlic, crushed and minced 1/4 lb shrimp 1/4 lb squid tubes, cleaned and sliced into rings 1/4 lb scallops 1/4 lb clams, scrubbed 1/4 lb mussels, scrubbed 4 C caulibits, or chopped cauliflower 1 T fresh parsley, minced juice and zest from 1 organic lemon 1 t cuttlefish ink

Meyer Lemon Custard-Filled Matcha Turtles #BreadBakers

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the Bread Bakers home page . We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. This month Stacy of Food Lust People Love is hosting and she wrote: "Your bread can be large, as in one big animal, or small - animal-shaped rolls. Use your imagination! Points for flavor and shape!" If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send an email with your blog URL to Stacy at foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com. Here's the animal-shaped bread basket from the #BreadBakers... Beef and Sweet Onion Dim Sum Pandas from Karen's Kitchen Stories Bird Bread Rolls from Ambrosia Easter Bunny Buns from Cook with Renu Ham and Cheese Elephant Rolls from Food Lust People Love Hedgehog Bread from Making Mir

Connecticut Lobster Rolls, Canned Lobster Bisque, and a 2019 Henry Fessy 'Maître Bonhome' Viré-Clessé #Winophiles

This month the French Winophiles group is looking at affordable wines from Burgundy. Host Cindy of Grape Experiences wrote: "Burgundy, or Bourgogne, is known for its wines of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir... as well as Aligote, Gamay, Sauvignon, César, Pinot Beurot, Sacy, Melon in lesser quantities. Many of the well-known wines are quite expensive, but there are plenty of values to be found." Read her invitation here. And there won't be a Twitter chat for this event, so you will have to dive into the articles themselves to read about our pairings and findings. Here's the line-up... Wendy Klik from A Day in the Life on the Farm enjoys Domaine Chevillon Chezeaux Bourgogne Hautes Cotes de Nuits, 2018 Paired with a Maple Pecan Chicken . Camilla Mann from Culinary Adventures with Camilla shares her love of Connecticut Lobster Rolls, Canned Lobster Bisque, and a 2019 Henry Fessy 'Maître Bonhome' Viré-Clessé. Jeff Burrows of FoodWineClick! explains why we should Look t

Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Search This Blog