Quintessence

According to the OED, quintessence is the refined essence or extract of a substance. I think quince jelly should be renamed quince-essence. We brought back a bagful of fruit last week from Norfolk, and Bob suggested I made some quince jelly. It can be used as an accompaniment to meat or cheese, a spread for your toast, and as an ingredient in casseroles etc. And it keeps well. So this is a versatile thing, and would make a change from all the crumbles and other quincey puddings. This did seem to make sense. Furthermore, all the recipes I found stressed the ease of preparation - no peeling or coring, just rinse the fruit, chop it up and simmer for a few hours. Then drain overnight, and add sugar to the resulting liquid. Boil up and put it in jars. OK, I can go with that, I thought.

Now you can pop down to Lakeland and buy a fancy jelly bag and strainer stand, for a mere £17.99. Or you can do what I did and thriftily use the kitchen stool upside down and a clean pillowcase hung over the legs.

That mass of pulpy fruit drained all night - and in the morning, I only had enough liquid to make just two small jars of jelly. Had I peeled and processed the fruit as before, I could have made 2 or 3 pies or crumbles. It seems very wasteful. 

After I'd finished, and put the pulp into the food waste bin, I found a recipe which suggested that if you peeled and cored it first, you could turn the pulp into membrillo paste. Maybe I shall try that next year, if the free quinces are available again.