When I was little, membrillo was one of the many gifts our Mexican relatives brought when they visited. I took it for granted. So many years later and so many miles away, I remember this delectable dessert and the loving hands that brought it to my family in Laredo. I remember in particular, Tía Lupita, an elderly, widowed aunt on my father's side who traveled hundreds of miles by bus at least once every three months all the way from her home in Puebla to visit us. I remember her deeply-lined, smiling face, her wrinkled hands, her warm embraces...and the bags bearing boxes of sweet potato candies wrapped in wax paper, bricks of membrillo, obleas, cinnamon sticks, piloncillo, and beautiful gold religious medallas for all of us.
I was intrigued by the fruit itself from which membrillo is made. Quince or cydonia oblonga was held in high regard by the ancients. For the Greeks quince was a ritual offering to a bride, quince was Paris' gift to Aphrodite, and ancient Roman cookbooks are filled with recipes using quince.
Nowadays, anything can be found at a specialty foods store, even membrillo, but nothing beats the taste of your own. If life hands you a quince tree and you don't know what to do with the stone-hard fruit, make membrillo! But making it is not for the faint-hearted. You'll need some time to spare. Transforming the boiled cream-colored meat of the quince into a fragrant sliced, amber paste shaped into a little brick and arranged with slices of manchego will make your day.
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| Chopped quince |
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| Quince paste |
| Membrillo |
Recipe Type: appetiser, dessert
Author:
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 1 hour 40 mins
Total time: 1 hour 55 mins
Serves: 15
Ingredients
- 4 quince (about 3 lbs)
- sugar (about 3 cups, roughly the equivalent of the boiled quince)
- stick cinnamon
- 1 lemon cut in half
- 1 bean vanilla
Instructions
- Peel the quince and cut in half to boil it with the cinnamon, the vanilla, and ½ of the lemon.
- After about an hour, when it is soft, drain the water, discard the lemon, the vanilla, and the cinnamon and cut out the cores of the quince.
- Cut into smaller pieces and either smash it with a bean smasher or, to be more efficient, throw it in a blender or food processor.
- Measure it and put it in a large pot with an equal amount (or a little less, if you prefer) of sugar. Into this mixture add the zest of the leftover, uncooked lemon half.
- Cook it for about 40 minutes, at a medium heat, stirring constantly until it turns a pinkish, amber color.
- After it has thickened into an almost solid mass, pour it into a container and let it dry on its own. After a few hours it will have set into a shape that is easy to slice.
- Slice it thin and serve it with equally thin slices of manchego cheese.
Notes
Ripe quince is yellow.
Serve as an appetizer or as an after-dinner dessert with a nice Prosecco.
