The NYT Praises The Quince

[browngirl]

One of the things I love about NYC is continually finding out new things
about it, such as that there are quince trees at the Cloisters. One of the
things I love about WD is that he sends me articles he thinks I'll like,
such as this lovely one about quinces:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/03/garden/in-praise-of-the-misunderstood-quince-tree.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

(Although I do have a pet peeve: every flipping article about quinces
expresses surprise and dismay that they're not edible out of hand. Sheesh.
This is why we recruited fire so long ago, people.)

Sould I write someo of the people mentioned, do you think? I'm no gardener
or chef, just a girl who loves quinces.

Comments

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

Quince chutney.............

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

I made wet suckets recently, and spoon sweets. I am contemplating what to make next. Maybe a simple baked quince with yogurt...

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

Sounds good to me! :o)

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

Thank you for recommending this post - it leads to so many interesting places!

As a small thankyou gift, have a quince poem (http://www.diamondtwig.co.uk/poems/quince.html).

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

Love it! Thank you. :o)

_browngirl_ is well worth friending if you're not already.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for the lovely poem, and the book recommendation!

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

The AMoNH was my favorite place in NYC growing up, hands down. \o/

I made my last batch of spoon sweets with ginger and lemon zest, so I think I will make my next with citron zest instead. And send you a jar. :D

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[gingicat]

Absolutely! And tell them you made suckets and love researching old-fashioned recipes.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Obeekaybee. :)

[achinhibitor.livejournal.com]

I don't know about that, but I'm certain you should have a quince-themed icon!

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the idea!

[boosette.livejournal.com]

I can't find anywhere whether Mulvian quince is extinct or not--because, theoretically according to some dead romans, that kind was edible out of hand. And I want it.

(they're in at my grocery store! I kinda want to make jam!)

(I also really, really want an episode of chopped with quince, because you know one of the chefs would skip tasting it, treat it like a pear, and have the judges make raw quince face.)

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

I want Mulvian quinces too! There's allegedly an apple that tastes like quince, Cole's Quince is the name of the variety; I once wrote a bunch of orchards about it, but no one who wrote me back had any.

And well, I expressed my quince flailings at length in email. :) One can cook them in savory dishes, but I love them so much in sweets that I tend not to.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Someone I knew twenty five years ago had quinces and I think he said the secret to making them edible raw was to leave them on the tree until the first frost hit.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Mrmn.

The thing is… there's edible, and then there's sumptuous.

Freezing a quince would disrupt its structure enough to soften it enough to yield to human teeth (keeping one in the back of the fridge for a year does something similar), but it would still taste kind of astringent and …. the raw flavor's a little prickly. I really think that cooking quinces brings out their best. Even just barely cooked through the flavor is smoothed and sweeter and no longer tannins-prickly, and the longer they cook, the pinker and then redder their flesh turns, and the richer and more complex their flavor becomes. I took this to an extreme recently by making wet sucket out of quince, which took a week of soaking in sugar with daily boilings, and the scent! I wish I could wear the syrup behind my ears! And the quinces taste *divine*.

Maybe I'm being unconscionably poky, but I really think people should be encouraged to just cook the quinces. One gets so much more out of them, I think. No one tries to eat raw potatoes, after all.

*finishes pontificating*
*blushes muchly at my own temerity*

[rosefox]

The quince trees at the Cloisters are marvelous! If you go when they're ripe verging on overripe, the air in the garden smells utterly heavenly.

[amaebi.livejournal.com]

And I think that's why articles say they aren't edible out of hand-- they smell so so so so... that you don't just want to eat one, but to be inside one. Or to be one.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Don't they? God, that ravishing scent. Because I have two wonderful boyfriends who love me and buy me weird fruit, I have a crisper drawer full of quinces in our fridge, and sometimes I just open it and inhale deeply and shut it again. I don't even need to eat one. I just need that lungsful of joy.

[amaebi.livejournal.com]

*faints*

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

I've been meaning to return to the Cloisters for three decades and this just underscores that desire in bright red marker.

[otherdeb.livejournal.com]

If you can suss out where to write to the people mentioned, go for it. Worst case, nothing will happen; best case, you'll get answers.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Thank you for encouraging me. :) I've written one, one retired, and I'm going to write a third.

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

you should totally invent a dish involving mince and slices of quince!

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

I need to look up runcible spoons again to make sure said dish is easily eaten with one. (I do think a mincemeat pie with slidced quince could be very nice…)