the confession

I have a confession to make. The quince paste I was in process of making yesterday turned out to be a nothing but a mound of goo. What a waste. It was totally my fault, I was trying to hurry it along before I had to head off to work (work is really getting in the way of my blogging efforts). But anyway, the quince had been simmering until fork tender, put through a food mill, and then back to the stove to get finished off. The recipe said it might take up to 1 hour. “Perfect” I told myself. I had exactly 1 hour until I needed to head off to work. I stayed by the stove faithfully stirring the mushy mixture waiting for that final moment when it was supposed to turn that beautiful deep ruby-red color (it still looked like applesauce at this point). I stirred. And stirred. And stirred some more. The hour was almost up and I was debating about calling into work, telling them I would be late because my quince paste hadn’t turned the right color yet, but thought better of it. I was desperate. What to do?

Well, thankfully my sweet husband works out of the house and at that particular moment was on a conference call. I wrote down all the instructions as best as I could and stuck it under his nose. He looked up and I got the raised eyebrow. But the darling hubby that he is put on the headset and took up the spoon and tried his best to follow my cryptic note.

Even after the length of time I told him it would take and all his faithful stirring, it still didn’t turn that deep crimson color or become the sticky blob it was supposed too. Sadly, I had to dump it.

But today is a new day, and I still had some quince left (thanks to my compulsive over buying weakness). I found another recipe that had some beneficial tips that I am hoping will give me the success I so desire. Even now as I’m typing, the house smells lovely with the apple-pear perfume that the quince give off, and the last time I checked they were starting to turn into a rosy shade of pink. I’m hopeful.

So if all goes well, I will have success from all of this effort, and will gladly share the results.

By the way, if your wondering why the picture of the vanilla bean. The new recipe I’m using for the quince paste calls for a vanilla bean in the simmering liquid. I got distracted and started taking photos of it…

Until tomorrow,

Shannon