a taste of autumn

The taste of autumn comes from a plate with a roll and jam. Quince jam! I love quince and I am still sad our quince tree had to make way for more house last autumn. It wasn't fruit bearing, the tree was far too exposed for any quinclets to remain on the tree but it was a beautiful tree and quince blossom is just ever so magical.

Look at that roll! I have waxed and waned about the Scottish morning roll before, in particular Morton's rolls. You can't get any better ones. The roll above of is a McGhees, not quite as amazing as a Morton's but still good. I love how you get those rolls in the corner shop, they come in big 'sheets' and you rip as many of as you like.  I know nothing about a good wine but I do know my morning rolls. I don't think I ever had a really good one outside Glasgow but I am happy to be surprised.

Back to the quince. I did buy as many quince as the bag allowance would permit when we went on holiday to Turkey last October. I know, not the most common souvenir but quince are hard to come by here and cost around £2 a piece.

Back in October I didn't have a kitchen, just a camp stove, and cooking anything was challenging. However, the fruit needed processing and I decided to cook the quince as if I were to make jelly and freeze both cooking liquid and fruit pulp for later. Having imported the fruit from Turkey I didn't want to waste any of it. In January, I finally made quince jelly with the cooking liquid but it had slipped my mind that I also had pulp. Imagine my delight when it was rediscovered  recently when we digging in the freezer for something to eat. There it was, deep down, covered in ice - a large tub of quince pulp. I had passed the cooked fruit through the moulis to get a relatively smooth and pip free puree. Back then, I had no idea what I was going to make. I had vague ideas of quince cheese but in the end, I made jam because it lasts longer and because quince cheese (which is not a cheese at all) is eaten with, well,  cheese and we don't eat much of that.

I couldn't find any recipes for quince jam but I figured it couldn't be too different from other jams. I am never too sure how much sugar is needed to preserve jam. I decided that about 800g of sugar per kg of fruit would do. I also added the juice of four lemons for no other reason than loving the flavour. I let the sugar dissolve on a low heat and then boiled the jam rapidly for about 15 minutes. As I started with a pulp, I wasn't too concerned about it being runny. As it turns out, it is just perfect. It is spreadable but keeps its shape if you make a little jam mountain (as you do).

I usually sterilise my jars in the oven and fill them to nearly the top with piping hot jam, screw the lids on tightly. That's all, no further sterilising needed, it keeps forever. I have 5 jars full of one of my favourite flavours, waiting to be savoured over the next few months. I can't quite believe that in the past I never used the pulp after making quince jelly!

Coincidentally, Jennifer over at Thistlebear also published a post about jam. Her's is blueberry, another favourite of mine.

Quince jam on a Scottish morning roll - a perfect way to start the weekend! xx