I’ve been cooking quinces in wine and honey for decades, but only this year have I canned the poached quinces for eating out of season. The wine and honey wonderfully complement the flavor of the fruit, and with the long cooking the quinces develop a lovely rosy color. You can serve them hot or cold, as a side dish for a festive meal or as a dessert. Why not enjoy pink, honey-scented quinces at Easter as well as Thanksgiving and Christmas?
When I poach quinces this way for immediate use, I leave the lid off the pot and let the liquid simmer down to a syrup. In this version of my recipe I don’t do that, because I want to end up with enough liquid to cover the fruit in the jars. If at serving time I’d like a thicker syrup, I’ll just pour off the liquid into a pan and boil it briefly.
Quinces Poached in White Wine and Honey
2½ cups white wine
1¼ cups light honey, such as clover or blackberry
2¾ pounds quinces
In a large, nonreactive pot, heat the wine and honey together briefly until the honey is dissolved. Turn off the heat. Peel and quarter the quinces, core them, and then halve the quarters. Add the slices to the pot while you work.
When all the quince slices are in the pot, cover it, and heat the mixture to a simmer. Simmer the quinces, covered, for about 1½ hours, until they are rosy and tender.
Ladle the quinces and their liquid into pint or quart mason jars. Add lids and rings, and process the jars for 20 minutes in a steam or boiling-water canner.
When 20 minutes have passed, turn off the heat under the canner. Wait 5 minutes before removing the jars.
Makes 2 quarts
Oh how lovely to see you last night. Am reading your book this morning and thinking of the Randolphs of Virginia and the larger tidewater aristocracy of which Jefferson was a member of by virtue of his marriage to Mary Randolf. Wondering if Randolph county in North Carolina was so named. And, too, how land West of the Mississippi was, for a while, off limits given the British mandate and became, in part, one of the reasons why the Indians fought on the side of the British in the revolutionary War. And, too, why, George Washington, a land hungry man if ever there was one, fought against the British. I find your research most compelling and is adding to my own understanding of the eventual displacement of Native Americans and and the settlement of the west. Land, good soil and the distribution of land to sons or heirs all part of the mix and still is in many ways. So yeah, your research is illuminating. This story is one the anti-woke crew is loathe to embrace but makes those of us open to an honest assessment of America’s early founding an opportunity to consider who we were and why. But then you know that. So thanks. But separately, thanks for this quince recipe. It is that time of year and I have a bowl of quince waiting to be processed. Oh, and the maps in the book, drawn by your daughter? Okay, just my early thoughts and thanks for all your very good work. The Joy of Pickling a constant resource in my kitchen.
Harriet, I’m sorry I’m so late in coming upon your very kind comments (the comments are supposed to arrive in my email, but seldom do). I actually find that some woke people dislike my focus in First Fruits on white males, who couldn’t actually have been good people, right? But whatever our leanings, American history is endlessly fascinating. I will probably be watching Ken Burns’s new series on the Revolution while simmering quinces on the stove tonight.