Recipe: Quince Paste

1 Wash the quinces in fresh water, then peel them and cut them into quarters. Remove the seeds, keeping them in a small piece of gauze.

2 Cook them very gently in a thick-bottomed saucepan with very little water (0.6 cup (15cl)) and the small bundle of seeds.

3 When your quarters can be easily crushed (with a fork), remove the seed bundle and press it firmly above the saucepan to extract the pectin it contains, then pass your pulp with its juice through a vegetable mill with a fine screen.

4 Weigh your pulp and add 40% of its weight in caster sugar (for example for 17.75 oz (500g) of pulp this corresponds to 7 oz (200g) of sugar), reheat everything while stirring constantly. When drops of this mixture set like gelatin on a cold plate, stop the cooking.

5 Pour onto a plate of appropriate size with small edges of 2 or 3cm (teflon) or lined with a sheet of lightly oiled parchment paper and spread your mixture with a spatula.

6 Let dry at room temperature. Some pass this preparation in a gentle oven but don't worry, as this mixture cools it will turn into paste.

7 When it is set and cold, cut small cubes and roll them in crystallized sugar or place crushed almonds on top, then store them by separating the layers with a small sheet of parchment paper.