It is rumored that the “apple” in the Garden of Eden was, in fact, a quince. If so, I don’t know how Eve walked about eating it. They are as hard as a rock until you cook them. And who would think something so ugly could taste so decadent?

By no means did I grow up sheltered as far as food was concerned. My parents traveled extensively, and my mother always came home with some exotic new food. Despite this, I never so much as heard of a quince until fairly recently. It would never have occurred to me to cook with one. 

When I bought New Flavors for Desserts in Williams-Sonoma a few months ago, I was immediately drawn to the recipe “poached quince with mascarpone, caramel, and gingersnaps.” Raquel Pelzel described it as apple-and-pear-like, which sounded so appealing. The reality is better than that simple description. They are like an apple and a pear combined, but with an amazing floral fragrance, and just the slightest hint of vanilla.

It took me several weeks to find quinces, since although they were in season, there is not much demand for them in Miami.

I got my hands on 3 eventually, but then I was busy with Thanksgiving and Christmas. They are quite hardy and will keep in the refrigerator for several months, especially in a Debbie Meyer Green Bag.

Around New Years, things quieted down, and I realized my quinces were on their last legs. Out came the recipe. I poached the quinces one day, and then made the caramel sauce and mascarpone cream the following day. I packed everything up and brought it to my friend Jane’s house for dessert. To say it was divine is putting it mildly. I have no pictures of the finished product, because no one could keep their fork out of it long enough to take the picture.

I was hooked, so when I found the recipe for “Quince and Goat Cheese Tart” in Local Flavors, I absolutely had to find more quinces. I searched through several grocery stores and eventually got my hands on 6 of the precious things!  The tart only required one quince. So I poached three of them with the Williams-Sonoma recipe, keeping one aside for the tart. There was still leftover caramel sauce from the previous recipe, but no mascarpone. I have one of those iSi cream whippers, so I put grass-fed cream and vanilla agave syrup into it and served that instead. Fabulous!

But the tart! The crust alone is amazing. Smitten Kitchen may have her favorite no-shrink tart shell, but this is my favorite! It’s amazingly easy, it doesn’t shrink, and it has vanilla in it. The filling is a combination of goat cheese, creme fraiche, and ricotta, with a little egg. Quick, easy, and not too sweet. It was interesting, because right out of the oven, it was okay, but not amazing. But after a day in the refrigerator, the flavors melded together. Deborah Madison recommends you serve it warm right out of the oven, but I’m afraid I disagree.

So, in case this post wasn’t already long enough, I have one more recipe. There were still 3 quinces left in the refrigerator. I was about to poach and freeze them, since I didn’t have any immediate dessert plans, and they were looking a little rough around the edges. Last night, Jane and I were sitting around, not eating for a change. She hands me Arabesque by Claudia Roden, open to the page entitled Stuffed Quinces. So guess what we had for dinner tonight?

Since the post was long and there are multiple recipes, I have put the recipes each on a separate page. Enjoy!

Here are the links:

Quince and Goat Cheese Tart

Poached quince with mascarpone, caramel, and gingersnaps

Stuffed Quinces