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


Comments

  1. That looks seriously delicious. Jo x

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  2. I've never tried quince jam, or quince anything, but that looks really good. Thanks for mentioning me. :) I hope you're having a good weekend.

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  3. I don't believe I've ever tasted a quince, is it tart?

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  4. Looks very tasty, enjoy. I think I mentioned on Jennifer's post that we made greengage jam once. It was delicious x

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  5. Looks delicious to me but my DH is a true Scotsman past retirement age and said, " What a waste of a morning roll-square sausage and tattie scone's the only good filling on a morning roll"! He's allowed about 2 per year for the sake of his health but I would love that jam stirred into some plain greek yoghurt. Catriona

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  6. Your roll looks delicious! I think you were very smart and thrifty to make this from a find in your freezer!! ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  7. I can imagine how sensational the flavour is, I love lemons too, so the combination sounds delicious. I always wish I had a quince tree here as well. It's exactly the sort of souvenir I'd bring home as well. I remember coming back from Morocco with mountains of olives and Moroccan desserts. Love the idea of morning rolls, something about the name makes them sound extra delicious. Well done on not eating much cheese. I am avoiding snacks and sugar at the moment, but I think I've eaten my own body weight in cheese this week. Just this minute had a chunk of mango and ginger Wensleydale. CJ xx

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  8. yum quince jam! I was surprised to read you could import fruit back into Scotland - try that in New Zealand for most foodstuffs and you'll have a dog yapping around you at the airport and an instant $400 fine for importing fruit. No fruit/vegs/meat/plant matter allowed to be imported here! After strawberry picking over the summer I froze 4 kg of strawberries - zero left due to the frozen strawberry fan in this house. Next year we'll freeze a ton more!

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  9. I've got to admire you, processing fruit on a camping stove. It took me all my time to cook a meal when we were having our extension built, never mind anything else. It was definitely worth it though, it looks delicious, though I'll have to take your word for it as I've never tried quince. The trees themselves are wonderful though, such beautiful flowers.

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  10. Looks so good. I adore quince and finally got round to planting one at my allotment this winter. Luckily my local greengrocer always has quince in the autumn months and I also know one or two secret places where quince may be scrumped. Like you I think the blossom is pretty magical. I wonder if your Scottish morning rolls are similar to Cornish splits? My jam making kicks off with the strawberries which will be late this year after our recent minus 6 overnight temperatures. I have just one jar of raspberry jam in the larder so I will need to get jamming soon.

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  11. I love the flavour of quince and usually end up making quince jelly if I can lay my hands on some fruit. I've never really thought about using the pulp too and making jam.

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  12. I'm not sure I've ever tasted a quince. But one of the things I love about preserving is being able to taste summer in winter, or autumn in spring as you have here. We are on our last jar of homemade bramble jelly now and I'll be sad when it's gone. I'm intrigued by Scottish morning rolls and have just googled them. They look extremely tasty. x

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  13. Yum! It looks and sounds wonderful although I am unfamiliar with quince, as well...but the roll looks as special as you described. Enjoy :) xx

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  14. Oh, that does look delicious, I must say. Never tried quince in any form (not sure I've even seen one in the flesh) but I have eaten Scottish morning rolls (we used to be able to buy them from a small family bakery here) and have to agree they are very good.

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  15. Mmm, that looks delicious. I love a Glasgow roll, nothing quite like it.. Yum. Love the plate too. What a treat to find all that quince pulp in the freezer X

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