The flowering quince harvest was good this year. Lots of large, even fruit.

I was going to make candied quince. Eric has been doing this in the past but now it’s up to me. I clearly don’t have his Fingerspitzengefühl for preserving – it was a failure. The first step in the recipe is to cook the fruit for “a short while” to soften it. I felt like I had barely gotten the water all the way to boiling and the fruit had already turned into mush. Next time I will try just pouring boiling syrup on the fruit straight away, no cooking them.

There was no rescuing that – it was too mushy to even strain – but I also didn’t want to throw it all away, neither the fruit nor the work. So I added more sugar, cooked it all a few more minutes, and pureed it all. Now I have some kind of quince sauce – runny, because of all the water, and not as sweet as jam. Might go well with yoghurt or oatmeal, I guess?