Saturday Jam Session

Saturday morning. Woke up with a slight hangover from a few too many drinks in the warm Manly pubs last night, but I won't let that hold me down! It's a beautiful day outside and I want to take advantage of the great natural light to take some pictures!

I've had 6 quince sitting on my counter top gently ripening for almost 2 weeks now. They've perfumed my house with rosy floral smells long enough and I decided that today was going to be the day to put them to good use. I was thinking of making a Turkish poached quince recipe my friend Alex put me on to, but then thought better of it because I was afraid that I would be the only person eating those delicious jewels... something my figure really can't afford. So, next best thing to poached quince? Quince jam! It's something I can share, eat in small quantities, and make into hundreds of other recipes! Well quince marmalade to be correct. Quick fact, did you know that marmalade was in fact originally made of quince, and not oranges? Well now you do!

 So I put on some jeans and went for a quick morning walk to the grocery store to pick up some pectin. But the little chinese grocer on my way there had a surprise waiting. A tower taller than me of beautiful ruby pomegranates practically calling my name! I couldn't resist. I bought one and quickly resumed my walk to IGA. But as I was looking for pectin, another splurge was there waiting for me. I picked up my pectin, and on the shelf next to it, two vanilla beans were eying me up. They looked at me, I looked back at them. $9 and two vanilla beans later, they were mine! I still haven't been able to decide what to do with the second bean! Vanilla sugar? Panna cotta? Ice cream? The choices are overwhelming! But don't worry, you'll be the first to know once I've decided.

This marmalade is a celebration of my two favourite fruits in season right now. Quince and pomegranate. Both are tart, and the quince develops a beautiful rosy hue once cooked that is complemented perfectly by ruby pomegranate. Add some sugar and a few extra ingredients, and you get a unique and delicious marmalade. It's a nice change from your standard berry jam, and great as a gift in this "cold" Australian "winter"  :)

I kind of created this recipe as I went and found that I added a little too much sugar, so in the recipe you'll see I've decreased the sugar by a half cup. But if you taste it and find you'd like it sweeter, by all means add that sugar back in! I love sweet jams anyway.

Quince Marmalade

6                quince
5 cups        water
1 small       lemon, juiced
2                 oranges
4 1/2 cups  white sugar
1                 vanilla bean
1                 pomegranate, juiced
50 g            pectin








The easiest way to deal with a quince is to avoid the core at all cost. It is very tough to cut through and will not soften, no matter how long you cook it. So for this recipe I scrubbed the fuzz off the outside of all the quince under running water and grated them whole directly on my hand (box) grater, four sides around the core. Leave the skin on the quince, because it helps to brighten the pink colour of the finished product.

 Put your shredded quince in a big, heavy bottomed pot, with the water and lemon juice. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Now take your two oranges. Quarter them, remove any inner pithy core they might have, and slice paper thin so you have lots of little triangle pieces. Put them in the pot as well. Simmer for 20 minutes.

Now is time to add the sugar and vanilla bean. Dump all the sugar in at once, and cut the bean in half lengthwise, scrape the seeds out with the back of your knife, and put the lot into the pot. Continue to simmer for about an hour, covered, until the orange rind has softened completely and the jam looks rosy pink.

Mix the juice of your pomegranate (just cut it in half and squeeze with your hands over a strainer) with your pectin until the pectin is dissolved. Add this mixture straight in the pot and turn your flame up all the way. You want your jam on a hard boil for 5 minutes. Stirring often to ensure the pectin is evenly dissolved and distributed.

After 5 minutes of hard boil, turn the heat off completely and let cool for 10 minutes, stirring often. Now all you have to do is put it in jars! ...don't forget to put the vanilla bean in the jars too... This recipe makes about 3 big jars worth, so I just keep one jar in the fridge, give one away, and put one container in the freezer for later. I'm not an experienced jammer (hehe) so the idea of properly sterilizing and canning jam to put on the shelf for 6 months makes me nervous. But if you are comfortable, by all means double the recipe and stock up for the summer time when quince aren't available!

I like to pair the floral quince with vanilla, because the vanilla bean actually comes from the flower of a vanilla orchid. Although I wouldn't describe vanilla as being very floral, I think it's floral roots allow it to complement nicely with other floral flavours. And I added the orange to the marmalade because I thought it would taste nice and guess what?? I love this jam!