The slaughter of quinces to create ‘dulce de membrillo’
Dulce de membrillo: an after summer specialty to enjoy during the whole year/ A Spanish delicacy
This is my first blog about our Finca Libertad
Because? It is nice to share knowledge and experience(s). And also because it is fun and entertaining. We do not always have to be on edge, do we?!
In my blogs I will take you on a regular journey on our finca where a lot is happening on a daily basis. Sometimes we struggle with new things, new challenges. On Finca Libertad there is never a dull day. I will tell you about our orchard with a lot of varieties in tree species. And I will also share some recipes, recipes that are dynamic, because every season fruit can be different. Different in quantity, taste and quality. And as a consequence you need to adjust or vary in the ingredients or method or a combination.
Our fruit is grown and harvested without any pesticides, just what Mother Nature is willing to give us. A very important objective on our finca, live a pure life.
Quinces on the tree
I make a funny comparison with slaughter because it is hard and precise work and you work with a kind of meat. Make sure you have enough time to be in the kitchen, this will be a workout, you will sweat. During my sessions of making this meat, most of the time it is a slaughterhouse in my kitchen. With sweat, stains and sometimes a bit of swearing, I try to be decently, because of the splashes from the pan.
Most important here is that those specials are harvested before the insects get hold of them. They seem soft with their velvet skin, but they are extremely hard, so after washing the fruit and removing the velvet skin, you put them in water and boil them. Make sure they are fully covered in water. Approximately 45 minutes you keep them boiling, that will make them change from their hard texture into soft workable material. BUT, please give them time after this step to cool down, otherwise you will burn yourself and you will not like to do this again.
Next step in this lovely process of working on delicious food is removing the soft skin and the core. You need the skin for another recipe, jelly of quinces. So, you can make two products, from which one is the hardest, the toughest job, working to an excellent carne/meat. Let us stick to the carne/meat, which will really be sticky to work with. You add 80-100% sugar to the meat and then it takes about 15 minutes until the sugar has been absorbed by the precious flesh. You will stir now and then, this is your job now.
It takes another 2 hours, stay with it, to the end product. The last half hour is like doing your work out in a gym, because you need to stir it regularly, like I said it is very sticky and could burn easily. When it is starting to come loose from the pan you need to be very careful and focused. If you think, this is also about a bit of intuition, that it is loose enough from the pan you put it in recipients. Please make sure you work with a wooden spoon and put baking paper in the recipient(s). It is said that it needs to dry for approx. 2 days. I simply wait till it has cooled down, put it in the refrigerator and after one or 2 days I make portions to store in the freezer. Now we can enjoy our dulce de membrillo for about one year, in fact even longer. Drinking our homemade natural wine with cheese and this specialty. Or as sweets. You cover them in a layer of sugar and serve them with your coffee or tea.
Mistakes are always easily made. Once I made the mistake of putting a part of the dulce in our cool store, 15 degrees, which was too warm. Because we do not use additives, in no way, it deteriorated quickly with a lot of fungus. I was really crying about this. So much work and now throwing it away. But I learned from it. Next time I will tell you about making wine…..
¡Que aproveche el dulce de membrillo!
Monica
