The Quirky Quince

Quince is a very hardy fruit. Requires little maintenance, is drought-tolerant, and adapts to various soil content. They are shaped like a large apple and the color of a Golden Delicious. If you find a soft one it is probably rotten.
Quince is an unusual fruit that is unpleasant to eat raw. Unlike an apple, they are too hard, tart, acidic and sour in taste and texture to eat raw. However, once cooked everything changes! The color, fragrance, texture, and taste become quite delicious. They are high in pectins that can be used to thicken jams and jellies. In the GreenFriends process, we save the pectin and use it in other jams made at the farm.
This past week the volunteers made 175 jars of Quince jam. This was a two-day process as they started with 92 pounds of Quince!
The first day’s focus was washing, coring, cutting, peeling, and preparing the Quince to be cooked. In the pictures, you can see the color of the Quince flesh. When cooked it will be a shade of red.








On the second day, it was time to get cooking! The sliced Quince was sauteed for twenty minutes and then put into the pressure cooker with organic sugar for an additional twenty minutes.








When the Quince was finished cooking, there were several taste tests for quality control… yum yum! Once everyone agreed it tasted “just right”, it was time to fill and label the jars with the jam. Kubo’s job was to transport the jars to the storage location. (Who is Kubo?). The Quince jam will be ready for sale shortly.


Nothing goes to waste. The cores were boiled and strained to create pectin. This will be used in our jams and jellies as a thickening agent.
