Preserving the Harvest: Quinces

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We were graced with a picture perfect Indian Summer day for our annual Preserving the Harvest program at Minute Man National Historical Park.  Great weather, a steady stream of very interested visitors, along with the contributions of our tireless participants, made for a successful event.  Oh yes, and there was that amazing array of culinary delights that made up the groaning board for nooning!

What makes this particular program so much fun, is that it's a learning experience for us, as well as the public. Participants are tasked with selecting a period method of food preservation, giving it a try, then sharing what they learned at this event.

For those of you who could not join us, our wonderful participants have kindly offered to relate their experience with food preservation techniques with The Buzz at the Hive. To kick off our series on Preserving the Harvest, we'll look at quinces, brought to you by guest blogger, Ruth Hodges.




In preparing for Preserving the Harvest, I had a wonderfultime poring through several old cookbooks before settling on making quincemarmalade from The Art of Cookery Made Plainand Easy by Hannah Glasse, first printed in 1747.  There were a number of things that pulled metoward this recipe even though I had never before made any kind of jelly orjam.  First, I loved the idea that thequince was a common fruit in New England in the 18^th century, andnow it has nearly disappeared (having been badly afflicted by a blight here inNorth America).  And being a word nerd, Idiscovered that the word marmalade, now almost solely identified with theorange variety, comes from the Portuguese word for quince.  So the original marmalades were made fromquinces and not oranges!  Finally, I readthat quinces ripen in October and November so the timing was perfect forPreserving the Harvest.
I found quinces at a specialty food store in Cambridge, twovarieties actually.  One variety lookedlike a green apple and was from California. The other was from a small farm in Vermont and was yellow and morepear-like in shape.  And even though thequince is in the same family as the apple and pear, the appearance is prettymuch where the similarity ends.  They arevery hard and dry, more like dealing with a winter squash when it came toparing, quartering and coring them!  Iused both varieties in my marmalade.  

The 18^th century recipes are written in anarrative style rather than the list of ingredients and chronological steps wefind in modern recipes.  Some of themwere a bit difficult to decipher so I ended up going back and forth betweenrecipes and cookbooks to make sure I understood what was meant.  I referred often to Martha Washington’s Booke of Cookery and Book of Sweetmeats becauseI had an annotated version which I found very helpful in this regard.  There were recipes for both white marmalade and redmarmalade.  For white marmalade, you boilthe quinces just until they’re soft enough to mash.  The longer you cook the quince, the deeperand rosier its color becomes.  I made thered variety and it was glorious when it cooked down to a wonderful amber red,thick consistency.  It was delicious!

To make Red Marmalade.   Take full ripe quinces, pare and cut them inquarters, and core them;  put them in asauce-pan, cover with the parings, fill the sauce-pan nearly full ofspring-water, cover it close and stew them gently till they are quite soft, anda deep pink colour;  then pick out thequinces from the parings, and beat them to a pulp in a mortar;  take their weight in loaf-sugar, put in asmuch of the water they were boiled in as will dissolve it, and boil and skim itwell;  put in your quinces and boil themgently three quarters of an hour;  keepstirring them all the time, or it will stick to the pan and burn;  put it into flat pots, and when cold tie itdown close. 

I also made macaroons (mackroons) for our nooning.  This recipe came from Martha Washington’s Booke of Cookery and Book of Sweetmeats, acookbook that had been handwritten in the 17^th century and whichcame into Martha’s hands in 1749.  Thelanguage in these recipes is clearly earlier than in Mrs. Glasse’s cookbookwritten a century later.  Still, many ofthe recipes were similar.  I chose tomake the mackroons because I love to bake and the recipe was straightforwardand simple.  Of course, I “cheated” bybuying almonds that were already blanched and I ground them quickly in anelectric coffee grinder rather than using a stone mortar and pestle specifiedin the recipe.  While I couldn’t find theground muske, I did find rose water in that Cambridge specialty food shop.  The preservation of flowers was common in the17^th century and rose water turns up in many of the recipes forcakes and other desserts.  I learned thatrose water is very condensed and a little goes a long way, and according to theeditor’s notes, over time it was replaced by vanilla extract for baking in Britainand America.  The two flavors are verydifferent but serve the same purpose in baking. The recipe called for “a spoonful or 2 of rose water” so I used atablespoon.  I think next time, I’dreduce that amount to a teaspoon.  ~~Ruth Hodges

 page184             TO MAKEMACKROONSTake a pound & halfeof almonds, blanch & beat them very small in a stone morter withrosewater.  put to them a pound of sugar,& ye whites of 4 eggs, & beat ym together. & put in 2 grayns ofmuske ground with a spoonful or 2 of rose water.  beat ym together till yr oven is as hot asfor manchet, then put them on wafers & set them in  on A plate. after a while, take them out.  yroven is cool, set againe & dry ym.               
                 

                                             MARTHA WASHINGTON’SBOOKE OF COOKERYANDBOOKE OF SWEETMEATS:being a Family Manuscript, curiously copied by an unknown Handsometime in the seventeenth century, which was in her Keeping from 1749.



Ruth's notes:I purchased blanched sliveredalmonds which I then ground in a coffee grinder.I mixed the ground almonds withthe sugar.  Separately, I beat the eggwhites in the electric mixer for 30 seconds or so.    I added one tablespoon of rosewater which may have been a little too much. Try one teaspoon next time.Then I added the almond/sugarmixture to the eggs in the electric mixer.I put them on parchment paper on acookie sheet to bake them.  I made themas “drop cookies”, about walnut-sized.I convection baked them for 10minutes at 300 degrees F for 10 minutes. I then turned down the oven to 170 degrees F for five minutes orso.  I then turned off the oven and leftthem in for another five minutes or so.  Then I took them out, removed thecookies from the cookie sheets and put them on a cooling rack. Makes about 60 cookies.YUM!!
 Preservingthe Harvest, Minute Man National Historical Park20 October 2012