Easy quince cheese recipe (membrillo)
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Fruit, Jam Jelly and Preserves, Vegetarian | 156 comments
I’m back at the helm and it’s marvellous to be feeling well and chirpy and slimmer. Forget Champneys. A week in bed with a bug does wonders for the figure.
Danny put on his sensible parent hat this morning. He instructed me not to go to work, reasoning that more recuperation was required. He was right. I did feel weak.
This afternoon, he relented slightly.
“Why not go out foraging for an hour. You could do with some fresh air.”
He passed me the foraging stick, tossed me his car keys and disappeared upstairs.
I found some plump sloes and with the help of the walking stick accessed branches that only a seven foot giant could reach. The crab apple tree had a small final harvest. Being north facing its fruit had not spoiled. I tootled home and simmered the crab apples with chillies to make a hot jelly (recipe later this week if it turns out well).
My main aim today was to make some quince cheese. The quinces had been cooked and strained for jelly the week before last. The juice and flesh keep well in the fridge for up to two weeks. Today was the last day.
When I discovered membrillo at the Spanish Deli in Portobello Road I was delighted. I love the combination of membrillo and Manchego. Danny wasn’t impressed. His face crumpled when he tasted it.
“It’s so sweet. How can you like it?”
I was pretty sure that membrillo needn’t be so sweet. I looked at various recipes on the internet. The amount of sugar varied enormously. In the end I decided to plump for an equal volume of quince pulp to sugar. This has produced a membrillo that is sweet but tastes of quince. I reckon that one could get away with even less sugar in fact when I looked in my copy of Oded Schwartz, his recipe uses slightly less – 50g less. Adding the lemon juice made a difference too.
They key to this recipe is time. I simmered the quinces for at least three hours until they became a deep pink colour. The final stage is a long process too. The quince pulp and sugar was simmered gently (lowest setting) for a good 2-3 hours to intensify the colour and thicken the pulp to the right consistency. There is no need to bring the mixture to a rolling boil. This is a recipe that is spread over two evenings. One evening simmer the quinces and strain overnight. The next evening make the membrillo.
Danny tasted it gave the recipe the thumbs up, especially when he realised that the by product is the juice for quince jelly.
Easy quince cheese recipe (membrillo)
Ingredients:
For the quince pulp:
- 1 kilo of quinces
- Zest of half a lemon
- Water to cover
For the quince cheese:
- Quince pulp
- Juice of half a lemon
- Granulated (not castor) white sugar (equal volume to the pulp)
Method:
- Rub the down off the quinces and wash them. There is no need to peel or core the quinces.
- Chop the quinces carefully, as they are hard it is easy for the knife to slip. I chopped them into quarters and sliced them into 1cm slices.
- Place the quince slices in a large saucepan or casserole dish and add water so that they are just floating. Add the zest of half a lemon.
- Bring slowly to the boil and then turn the hob down to it’s lowest setting so that the quinces gently simmer (lid on). Simmer the fruit until very soft and the fruit has turned a deep pink colour. This took me about 3 hours. Check the quinces every now and then and top up the water if necessary.
- Strain the juice from the fruit overnight using a jelly bag or muslin square. Retain the juice to make quince jelly.
- I was loathe to spend hours pressing the quinces through a sieve so I put them through the Magimix
(medium grater blade) and then I sieved them.
- Measure the pulp using a measuring jug put the pulp into a large heavy bottomed saucepan or casserole dish and add an equal volume of white granulated sugar. Add the juice of half a lemon.
- Bring the pulp and sugar gradually to simmering point, stirring to dissolve the sugar and let it simmer, lowest setting for 2-3 hours, stirring every now and then to stop it sticking and burning. It will resemble gloopy mud. Gradually the colour will darken. Eventually the fruit will become very thick (I could stand my spoon up in mine).
- Spoon into well oiled sterilised straight sided jars and seal with cellophane lids. This will keep for months. Cut slices to eat with cheese or cold meat. Refrigerate after opening.
Leave a reply
Hi Sarah,
So pleased tat you tried this!
Loads of people just serve the cheese with the membrillo. I serve it with a dry but delux cracker. The combination is quite rich so I find that the cracker is the perfect balance.
There is probably an even more perfect balance to the cheese and membrillo. I just haven’t discovered it yet!
I made the membrillo last night. I bought some manchego cheese and will trying it out this evening. Thanks for intruducing me to new foods!
How does one serve the cheese and quince? Is it sliced onto crackers or bread or eaten on its own?
Hi Tony
There is no need to peel the quinces. The slow simmering process can take a few hours. We have a quicker method described in our damson cheese post https://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=45 but you can end up with an enormous boiled sweet if you let it boil for too long.
A Japonica quince or a quince tree is a source of valuable bounty!
Just picked the last quince from the tree on the house and made the pulp for quince cheese.
First time I have tried this and it seems to be very fiddly having to peel and slice the quince. The simmering went OK but, using a jam thermometer, I had dfficulty in acheiving the ‘cut-with-a-knife’ consistency. It has set as a very tasty marmalade and I think I shall have to leave it there for this year.
Having read above the cost of quince I shall certainly nourish our japonica next year because we got at least 10 lbs this year having left the windfalls!
Hi Minamoo,
What a shame. I don’t know what went wrong. 1.5 litres is an awful lot of pulp to manage. The maximum amount I use is 0.5 litres. The smaller amount makes it easier to handle, I think.
It shouldn™t be boiled it should be simmered.
What I would do is spread some on a baking sheet/put it into ovenproof ramekins and dry it in a very low oven as an experiment. If this works try this method with the reset of the mixture. See the comments above for tips on this method – Claire’s Boyfriend was making the membrillo sweet meats.
Thinking about it, removing the pips might have affected the setting. Did you add the lemon juice? Ours is soft, not spreadable and is sliceable in a sticky sort of way. It will naturally dry in the pots over time.
I’d be interested to hear how you get on.
Sigh………I haven’t had much luck with the membrillo. It didn’t set at all last night so I decanted it back into the pot and recooked it today but despite the fact that it’s a LOT thicker this time it still hasn’t set. Do you have any ideas as to why? I did the recipe as equal volume of pulp to sugar (1.5l container of each) and boiled it for about 5 hours. It’s gone a beautiful deep red colour that’s almost black and it tastes divine but it still isn’t solid cut-it-with-a-knife consistency. 🙁
Hi Minamoo,
Great to hear about your membrillo making experiences. Thanks for the tip about removing the seeds.
Great idea to trade membrillo for Manchego. I reckon your membrillo is worth more than 100g of cheese so he is bound to jump at the trade!
Hello Fiona! It’s me again. I have finally got round to making my membrillo and I have 3 Bonne Mamman jars, 6 ramekins, and 1 teeny container full of it! It didn’t go as red as I thought it would…..more of a very deep, dark reddish brown. It tastes divine though! I ended up licking the spoon after every time I went to check on it and stir it and now I feel quite queasy! I zipped the quinces up with my hand blender and after extracting the juice I pushed the gloop through a very fine sieve. I was a bit worried about the pectin because I am planning to dilute the juice a bit this time so I can get a sweeter jelly (My last one was more of a quince marmalade than a quince jelly – really tart) so after I removed all the seeds (didn’t peel or core it, just picked out the seeds) I put them in the jelly bag and let them simmer with the fruit till it was ready. And that way I wouldn’t end up with flecks of pips in the pulp.
I had more membrillo than I had jars though so I ended up over filling them somewhat and although I don’t think that the lids have touched the gloop, it’s pretty damn close! lol!
I have managed to track down some manchego cheese at the farmers’ market near me but when I went last week he had just run out so I asked him to save me some. I was however able to taste some and it was incredible. Apparently it’s an award-winning manchego and unlike cheaper ones that are made out a blend of cow and ewe’s milk, this one is wholly ewe’s milk. It is VERY expensive though (£20 per kg) so I’m hoping that he will be okay with trading the little container of my membrillo for an extra 100gm or so of manchego (I’ve already asked for 200g which is all I can really afford) I hope he says yes!
Hi Riscagirl,
I’s love to hear how your membrillo turned out, dried in the dehydrator.
Thanks for your tips on quince cuttings and pips.
Hi Kate,
That’s interesting. I’d like to try less sugar next time. I haven’t made rowan jelly. Must give it a go.
Hi
I’ve just made quince jelly and membrillo – from japonica quinces. Yesterday I picked some from a garden on my way back from getting the newspaper (I did ask) as mine grow in the shade and were very green. I haven’t used quite as much sugar as your recipes but everything seems to have set and turned pink!
Haven’t made jam for years but years ago made very succesful hedgerow jelly and rowan jelly – which was wonderful.
Thanks for the website – very interesting
Kate