Around the seed cavity of a quince is a hard core of flesh that tends to stay hard after cooking. When a recipe requires coring a quince, you’ll want to remove all of this hard flesh. Doing so can be difficult; a sturdy paring knife will suffice, but only if looks don’t matter much. After accidentally cutting crosswise through a few quince slices, you may find yourself hunting through your Drawer of Useful Things (as I call mine) for a more appropriate tool.
Forget the pear corer; it’s too flimsy. What you need is the tool pictured here, a pointed spoon with sharpened sides. Best known as a peach pitter or pitting spoon, it’s designed for jabbing into a stone fruit and withdrawing the pit while leaving the fruit intact. My mother-in-law probably thought I knew what a peach pitter was when she bought me mine, at least a dozen years ago, but I didn’t, and in fact I’ve never tried to pit a peach while leaving it whole. I’ve often used my pitting spoon for scraping the white pith from citrus rinds. Its main use in my kitchen, though, is in coring apples and, especially, quinces.
I don’t know where my mother-in-law bought my pitting spoon, but finding one today can be hard. Canneries, once the main market, now use big machines instead. But I’ve found one online source: the Organic Tool Company of Turlock, California. Have a look at Pitting Spoon No. 2, priced at $12, and at the many other uncommon tools for the farm, garden, and kitchen in the OTC catalog.
Does anyone know of another source for pitting spoons?
Linda, I live in Colorado. The only retail outlet with quince is Whole Foods, which is selling conventional quince at $4/quince. Do you know of anyone who is selling organic quince via mail order?
Thanks.
Julia
Julia,
From a 2009 Los Angeles Times article by David Karp, here is a list of quince growers:
Gonzaga Farm (Ronnie and Tess Gonzaga). Pineapple quince grown in Lindsay, California
Mud Creek Ranch (Steve and Robin Smith). Organic Pineapple and Golden quince grown in Santa Paula, California
Oregon Quinces (Tremaine and Gail Arkley). Fresh Pineapple and Russian varieties of quince. 9775 Hultman Road, Independence, Oregon; (503) 838-4886
Terry Ranch (Rebecca and Mark Terry). Pineapple quince grown in Dinuba, California
Willowrose Bay (Edith Walden). Aromatnaya, Cooke’s Jumbo, Havran, Karp’s Sweet, Kaunching, Kuganskaya, Meech’s Prolific, Lisle, Smyrna, Tashkent, Van Deman. P.O. Box 1652, Anacordes, Washington; (360) 299-9999
As far as I know, none of these people sell routinely by mail order. But it doesn’t hurt to ask! Please let us know if you have any luck.
That looks like a great quince cutting tool. I had a hard time with mine.
I was lucky to get some local ones at the store I work at– yum. What did you make?
I was coring quinces to preserve them in boiled-down grape must (http://agardenerstable.com/2011/11/13/homemade-grape-molasses/).
What a fantastic tool, and thanks so much for finding a source for us. I wish I’d had one when I made my quince jelly this year. I find they also stain my hands if I process a lot of them.