homemade quince jam

we went to reverse garbage
http://www.reversegarbage.org.au/
in search of cushion making material... and surprise surprise, there was also a sunday market...
an organic market - down to earth, produce brought out by the farmers themselves... lots of environmentally aware people... spicy chai lattes and BYOBs - totally the antithesis of the upmarket, well-to-do, lets-have-some-organic-fairtrade-coffee-darrrling, northside produce market or farmers market pyrmont
http://www.organicfoodmarkets.com.au/Organic-Food-Markets.aspx
anyways... i spotted some red plump anjou pears and quinces...

looked just like the cover of "maggie's orchard" (my atm good read!)
http://www.librarything.com/work/3366359
the quinces made the entire house (and car boot) filled with a pleasant peculiar fragrance - a mixture citrus and pear... hard to describe...
so it was time to dig out all my recycled jars again...



i know i didn't boil to sterilise - v lazy of me... but so far, the oven method has worked for me every time!


i searched everywhere for a quince jam (not quince paste) recipe... there wasn't many out there (and there wasn't one in "maggie's orchard"! i was surprised - none on the cook and the chef either... )



the quinces were v pretty, not black and furry at all... and they constantly give off their nice perfume! even when i was scrubbing them in the bath...



the recipe called for washed, cored, grated (body and skin) quinces...


i was fascinated by the seed arrangement... picture perfect...
it reminded me the time when we visited the brogdale farm in kent and went on their orchard tour... the lady said that one could tell the variety of the fruit by looking at just the arrangement / configuration of the seeds at the centre of the fruit... http://www.brogdalecollections.co.uk/

i did the grating the easy way...

1.5 kg of quince ended up being 1.2kg (6 packed cups) of processed fruit, ready for jam making...

added water

added lemon juice and zest...

simmer... 10min until quince = soft

add sugar...

simmer... should be uncovered... for 30 min.... check... then 20 more min... check... then

an extra 30 min with added sugard (not in recipe... i added apporx 250g more sugar to get the set and deep colour)...

the colour really looked artificial!
the bottling... no jamsetter used this time!



so the end of the day... i had 2 small, 1 med and 2 large bottles...


taste test... the texture was more on the "paste" side of things... or a stiff jam...
little bit grainy... not too sweet... v nice acidity, not overpowring, just right, like a spreadable concentrated dried pear...


and extremely yummy on hot toast with lots of butter! one of the best jams i've made (equal first with strawberry jam!) and had!