Quince love

I can't explain my fascination with quinces, they seem so mysterious and exotic to me. Is it their heady perfume that scents the air as the ripen or cook?

Or it is because I had never even seen one until I was in my early twenties? I was intrigued and then smitten.

I dream of a quince tree, heavily ladened with fruit in a secret corner of the back yard.

(for those reading who know me, obviously not my backyard, but the backyard of my dreams)

I have seen baskets filled with fresh quinces on other blogs, ready and waiting on the kitchen table to be turned into delicious jams, jellies and tarts.



Unfortunately this is how we buy them in Queensland.

It just doesn't seem to have the same romantic appeal, but still each year I buy them and make at least one dish: poached quinces.

A dessert perhaps enjoyed by Persian princesses.

I think they will make a perfect dessert to the roast lamb I am cooking tonight.