Aside from it being something like an apple and something like a pear, that’s all I’d heard about quince.

Still, I had one on my counter and I needed to eat it before it went bad…just like all the other veggies in my fridge. So began tonight’s dinner roulette (which I TOTALLY WON).

Lucky for you, I like to share.

Quince, meet You. You, meet your new favorite fall fruit.

First, the recipes. Second, the histories.

Sweet Quince Salad

I’m terrible with names. Will take suggestions.

• Set 2 golden beets to boil.** When al dente, remove (drain) and peel.
• Cook 1 onion, sliced for caramelizing, with butter and salt of choice.
• After 5-10 minutes, add 1 quince, nearly though not fully ripened, quartered and sliced.
• After another 5-10 minutes, beets should be ready to slice and add.
• If you happen to have some green onions lying around, throw in some sliced greens for color and a subtle layer of flavor.
• Add a dash of framboise vinegar (conveniently stocked by Woodsmen Market). (This was my choice after thinking a Champagne Vinegar would do well and seeing I was out.) If you haven’t already seasoned to taste, now’s the time. Remove from heat and enjoy!

** At the time I boiled the beets, I added green beens for my savory dish. Much to my surprise and delighted palette, the beans were perfectly (and naturally) sweetened. Added to my cooking mixture of chanterelles, quartered and fresh-from-the-garden cherry tomatoes, garlic, dill, green onion & sausage they made for a nice green bean casserole alternative.

City of Quinces

Shortly after moving to Portland from Nebraska, my aunt from Seattle came to visit me and when we went for a walk, she changed my life forever. She pointed at all the food I could eat that was just growing wild in people’s yards, between the sidewalk and the street and the general ‘wilderness’ of the city. I was hooked on foraging ever since. I even grew to like roses for the citrus blast I could get from their hypanthium (rose hips), which is especially convenient considering their abundance in this City of Roses.

Speaking of, did you know that quinces are in the rose family? (So are apples, pears, cherries and loquats.) Be warned: the previous link includes fascinating tales of fruit in the bible and other history. Apple’s generic name is derived from the Latin word for “bad” referring to the story of Eve in the Garden of Eden; however, some scholars think it was the fig and others think it was the apricot due to how far back those fruits date.

Quince, like pears, have stone cells which are responsible for their gritty texture (think of an amazing, gritty white cheddar). Since a dear friend of mine is drowning under a pear tree, I plan on cooking with some underripe pears to try out my theory that anything a quince can do, a pear can do (though not better).

I have a feeling that like persimmons, quinces will suddenly jump out at me on my walks and other adventures through the city now that I know of their existence. And once I find a quince tree with fruit for the foraging, I will make annual visits for bounty as I do for persimmons, pears, peaches, plums, figs and cherries (to name a few).**

Yes, part of the appeal of quince is that I’ve never seen it in a store. So it can retain a sense and flavor of the wild without having nutrition sacrificed for its looks in the aisles. Unlike persimmons, it needs to be harvested before the first frost, though needs a cold spell to produce. Combine that with being self-pollinating and the quince is a great fruit tree option for our Pacific Northwest climate. (1-0 quince-pear)

So now that we’ll be growing quince trees, some inspirational recipes, blogs and restaurants:

• Nettle & Quince … “Bonds of family and friends woven by food memories past, present, and future.” Yes, please
• Winter Ginger Fruit Compote from edible Portland
• Move over, cranberry sauce, quince is joining for dinner – a Cranberry Quince Sauce to try for Thanksgiving
• Mincemeat stuffed Quince for Easter
• a fancy restaurant in San Francisco
• Doubleheader: Persimmon + Quince recipes from Epicurious

** No, I don’t take fruit from yards where the fruit is being harvested by the land and home owners.

What Next?

I clearly need to resurrect UrbanEdibles. Only last weekend did I learn about GeoJSON (at Wherecamp) and the wonder that is community map making.

I must also find a way to contribute to and expand the UrbanForestMap.

Photo Credit: FullCircle.com 

The post Quince: Your Favorite Fall Fruit You’ve Never Heard Of ~ recipes, histories + map making appeared first on Jewels.

And so I set out to make some food for my immediate lunch and the week ahead. While I don’t have specific recipes to share, I figured I’d share the general outline and what I learned in case you’re in need of some food experiments.

Crab “cakes” over a bed of garlic heads and onions. Born out of my need to rescue the aging garlic heads, a couple half-eaten onions and a bag of mostly dead mint.

• Rinsed and cut the dried end of the garlic heads off. Then I cut the garlic head stems in half. I threw them into a warmed cast iron skillet with already melted butter and salt.
• Diced the remaining fresh portions of 1/2 red onion and 1/2 a white onion and added them in.
• Rescued the inner most garlic cloves of some elephant garlic that had mostly dried out on the outside. Halved some fresher garlic and added them all in.
• Added a splash of Sauvignon Blanc vinegar and removed the veggies once they started to brown. Some taste sampling revealed that the onions had sweetened and the garlic heads perfectly al dente.
• After scouring my cupboards I discovered a can of crab meat. So I cheated and looked up some crab cake recipes and manage to muck it up anyway since the base of the recipe I wanted to follow called for 2 eggs for 1 pound of meat and I used 2 eggs for 1/2 pound of meat. And I had no crackers. So began the improvisations. I added celery salt, pepper, some of the onion mixture I’d just cooked, the rest of the fresh mint I could separate from the not-so-fresh bag and a splash of lime juice from a mostly hardened lime. It was a bit runnier than I could fathom rolling into patties so I some coconut flower to the mix and poured it into the pan like I would a pancake.
• Though I wish I’d better greased the pan, the cakes cooked like potato pancakes and I only broke it into a few pieces when I did my best to flip it.
• Upon tasting, while I liked the cakes, I think the addition of the flour gave it a bit of a dry taste I wasn’t too keen on. Bummed I’d used the mint IN the cakes vs having for use in a sauce, I whipped up a dollop of mayo with mustard powder, dill, Cholula and lime juice. Put the cakes on the bed of garlic greens and voila! Fancy lunch.
• Next Time: I’d only use 1 egg and no flour in the cake mix. And I’d use about 1/2 as much mint, as I think it’d be much better in the sauce.

A non-traditional Gazpacho Chile. Neither a gaspacho nor a chile, this came about as an attempt to use some aged, dry beans.

• Rinsed and soaked a bowl of black beans and a smaller bowl of white beans.
• After about 8 hrs I rinsed them again and started a crock pot with 2 cans of tomatoes: one diced and “fire roasted” and the other whole and peeled. I added the black beans (not the white), some seasoned salt, garlic cloves, dried dill (lots of it), some dried pepper flakes & two cans of water. I put it on a high and waited for the mixture to get bubbly. My thinking is that I’d bring the beans as close to a boil as I could, then I’d add the white beans.
• When I added the white beans, I also added some Sauvignon Blanc vinegar and lime juice and brought the pot to low (not warm).
• I checked periodically and eventually added a bit more vinegar, pepper, salt, ground mustard, Cholula hot sauce and dill. I purposefully avoided any chile powder and smoked paprika, wanting to keep the flavor more on the citrus side than the traditional chile side.
• It went to warm overnight and back to low while I was out for a hike – so it cooked slash simmered for nearly 24 hours before I felt good calling the beans done.
• To serve, I added a dash of freshly opened “fire-roasted” tomatoes and a splash of vinegar and enjoyed!
• I also cooked a dying sausage, sliced it up and added it to my bowl only (as I wanted to keep the main stock vegetarian) – even better.
• Next Time: I’d use less beans and more water. The sauce of the “soup” is quite tasty and the beans are a bit much. I’d also use more vinegar and lime juice – even if it required refilling at the store as these are two ingredients I love having in the kitchen.

Extra: Today is Day 9 of my 30 day blog challenge. Click ‘Follow’ at the bottom of the page to receive weekly updates in your inbox or follow me on Tumblr if that’s your scene.

The post Food Experiments – Non Recipes for the Daring appeared first on Jewels.