A taste of Yellow

A little side step from the green I have been feeding you with, but stay tuned there is more green to come.

Yellow is omnipresent at the moment, everywhere you look in blogs yellow is the colour that jumps out. Barbara at winos and foodies started "a taste of yellow" in which she asks all bloggers to participate by making a dish containing some type of yellow food, to commemorate Livestrong Day 2007 on May 16th.

LIVESTRONG Day is the Lance Armstrong Foundation's (LAF) grassroots advocacy initiative to unify people affected by cancer and to raise awareness about cancer survivor ship issues on a national level and in local communities across the country. LIVESTRONG Day 2007 will occur on Wednesday, May 16.

As Barbara states in her post: there isn't a person in the world who hasn't been touched by cancer in some way. I wish it weren't so true.

The quinces above were bought at the Farmer's market last year when they were in season, but proved to be very difficult to work with. Their fragrance when they were still in their bowl so lovely, but once I made quince butter....it all but disappeared, leaving a bland pinkish yellow product. I expected to get a more prominent flavour, resembling the sweet fragrance and was a little disappointed. I definitely will try this again, maybe seek out another variety of quinces. This was the recipe I used then.

Quince jelly-butter with coriander
(for conversions please refer to chart on the right hand side)

1 kg quinces, (scrubbed, in pieces; incl. core and peel)
1 tbs coriander seeds
juice and pips of 2 big lemons
equal amounts of water and sugar approx. 900 grams

Combine all ingredients but the sugar in a large pot and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and let cook for some 1,5 hours. Once the fruit is thoroughly cooked, sieve it through a fine-meshed sieve covered with cheese cloth (or use a jelly bag). This could take a couple of hours to a whole night.
Measure the recovered juice and add sugar. As a rule I use 400-450 grams of sugar to 600 grams of juice. Warm juice and sugar over low heat until sugar has dissolved, on medium to high heat let the mixture cook another 10-15 minutes until a drop forms of your spoon or the internal temperature reaches 105C. Proceed to ladle the jelly into sterilized jars and close the lids. For directions on how to sterilize jars I'll gladly refer you to all information accessible through the internet.

Although I postponed my post then to have a chance to try again, I choose to post it now anyway. Why? Because in ancient times quinces were believed to be a symbol of love, happiness and fertility.

Live Strong!