Chai-poached quince with a difference

I recently popped over to Piallago – aka Canberra’s avenue of garden nurseries – for a spot of plant shopping. One of the nicest things about Piallago is that several apple orchards are interspersed between the nurseries. These orchards only open their doors to the public during harvest season which means you know you’re buying the freshest of fresh fruit, rather than supermarket apples that may have been in cold storage for 14 months. There’s also something really lovely about buying produce while surrounded by the trees it came from.

What I was there for, however, was not apples but their cousin, quinces. Quinces are pretty much inedible raw but once cooked have a lovely floral taste and aroma, almost like the smell of roses. They can be used in sweet or savoury dishes, or for an amazing quince jelly. The easiest way to cook them is simply to poach them in sugar, water and spice.

Most recipes recommend you use a full cup of sugar for every three quinces. I try to keep my sugar intake to a minimum so I decided to more than halve the sugar content and instead amp up the spices. And so was born my chai-poached quince.

Chai-poached quince

Peel and chop four medium to large quinces. Remove their core, which stays inedible when cooked. Put the quince pieces in a bowl of water as you go so they don’t discolour.

In a large saucepan combine half a cup of organic coconut palm sugar (any other sugar will work too!), one litre of water, a cinnamon stick, a few star anise, three or four peppercorns, and around eight cloves. Simmer for five minutes, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Add the quince, put the lid on and simmer on the lowest possible temperature for around 40 minutes, or until the quince is tender.

Remove the quince and place it in a bowl or storage container. Do not throw out the liquid, which is full of those amazing spices as well as the quince aroma. Instead, simmer the liquid in the saucepan with the lid off for another hour or so until it has halved in volume. If you’re not planning to eat the quince straight away, pour half the liquid over the quince and stick it in the fridge. Continue to simmer the rest of the liquid for another 30 minutes or so and it will reduce down to a spectacularly rich nectar. Keep an eye on it so it doesn’t burn or evaporate completely!

So that was where I got to yesterday. This morning, I put some of the quince back in the saucepan with that gorgeous nectar and reheated it. I served it with a dollop of coconut cream and a sprinkle of pepitas, sunflower seeds, nutmeg and some freshly grated vanilla bean. The sugar content was perfect – in fact, I might even reduce it a bit further next time. 

Tip: For the creamiest of coconut cream, stick a can of Ayam premium coconut cream in the fridge for several hours and it will be ready to dollop.