Orange and Quince

My friend and kitchen soulmate Ingrid told me she was having a love affair with quince. Quince? The word brought images to my mind of old English country kitchens and Persian gardens, not to mention Edward Lear.  A strange mixture I know. The very next day  while waiting for my turn in the fruit shop, I realised I was staring at a crate of quince –  “Membrillo” said the shop owner…membrillo, of course.  The fruit in the crate bore very little resemblence to what I know as membrillo – a very dark red slab of solid jelly. Its eaten with cheese and a favourite with Spanish children. The fruit in its natural state is  pale yellow and beautifully irregular in shape – positively voluptuous.

I bought three and spent the next week obsessively photographing them. From every angle they looked different –  – reminding me of Boteros with their sensual bulging curves. I got so attached to them and their sweet perfume that I could hardly bring myself to put a knife into them and try cooking them – so I went out and bought a few more.

Although closely related to the apple and the pear, quince can’t be eaten raw. It is rock hard and requires long slow cooking and when cooked the flesh turns pinky orange. It can be baked with sugar or sweet wine, roasted and stuffed with meat, (which I tried), turned into pickle, jelly or jam. It can be served as dessert or accompany something savoury. Whatever way, it is delicious – slightly sweet but very fragrant. Who knew!

This is a fruit that is as old as civilization itself. It’s suggested that it was probably quince that Eve offered Adam in the Garden of Eden as apples weren’t even around then, though goodness only knows how he bit through it! It  is also quite possibly the golden apple that Paris gave to Aphrodite, the goddess of love, for the very same reason. Quince appear frequently  in still life oil paintings, mosaics and frescos.

During my bit of quince research, I discovered that it is still highly prized amongst food connoisseurs, many claiming it to be one of their favourite fruits. It seems so strange in that case, why we see so little of it? It pops up in cookery books but how many people ever actually cook it?

I may not have grown up with quince but I can’t remember a time I didn’t know about oranges. Here in Spain oranges are in abundance. They are cheap and delicious. For about 3 euros you can buy a 5kg bag and squeeze the juice out of them to your heart’s delight.  Oranges are everywhere  and I mean literally everywhere. In this part of Spain, orange trees line the streets. In Seville alone there are over 14,000 fruit laden trees, hence Seville oranges, but they can be seen in most Andalucian towns. In spring they fill the air with the perfume of orange blossom, in summer they create shade and in winter they offer the beautiful site of lush green leaves and vibrant fruit. These are not the sweet variety but the bitter ones for making marmalade. The oil and flowers are used in herbal medicine and  aromatherapy.