Quince...

A new tradition for us is making quince paste about this time of year.  Up until three years ago, I had never even seen a quince.  However, now I am thinking we need to plant our own quince tree.  I did manage to trade some walnuts for a few pounds of this pear/apple relative.

They are very hard and very bitter.

Yellow skin.  White flesh. 

Lots of quince paste (aka membrillo) directions online and in old cook books.  I simply 

core them, 

take out any ugly spots, 

chop them up, 

cook them 'til soft, (with a bit of water so they don't stick or burn)

run them through a food mill,

put the pulp back in the kettle,

add the same quantity of sugar as there is pulp.

And cook.

And stir.

And cook.

And stir.

For a very long time.

Until the yellow turns to a deep pink.

Until it is very thick and the path of a wooden spoon through it doesn't disappear immediately.

Then turn it into a pan covered with parchment paper.

I love parchment paper.

Put it on top of the fridge for about a week until it is dry and a little less stiff than a gummy bear.

I love cinnamon gummy bears

After that keep it covered and in the fridge.  It will last forever. 

Serve with a dry cheese.  I put some on a ham sandwich yesterday.  Yum.

Quince Paste/Membrillo

Crows..A Scene from Hitchcock

Dense, foggy morning, and dozens and dozens of crows.

I couldn't capture the numbers with my camera.  The crows were everywhere.
In the trees, the fields, on the lawn and the driveway.

Felt like a scene from The Birds.

100's of pounds of walnuts....done!

How many of these buckets of nuts have we picked in the past two weeks?

1000's?

Maybe it just feels like 1000's.

No more walnuts!

We both work really hard gathering the walnuts.

We get walnut stained fingers,

walnut stained knees,

and walnut stained clothes.

Now the walnuts are off to the dryers.

Should be home on Thursday.

2.25 per pound.

We have someone who would buy all of the nuts, but he will just ship them to China.

There they would be shelled and packaged,
in order to send them back to the US

to be sold in little cellophane bags at your local Wal-mart or Kroger store.

We don't want to be a part of that process.

So instead we sell them to folks who want 

local,

natural,

real

food.

We end up trading,

giving,

sharing,

the nuts with others.

There is something that is very gratifying about the whole process,
and also addictive.

Thank you big old wonderful walnut trees!