Description

A traditional fruit preserve made from quinces with a rich, fruity sweetness and a thick, gloopy consistency somewhere between a jam and a chutney. Despite its name, quince cheese contains no dairy; the term cheese refers to an old-fashioned style of fruit preserve, made by cooking fruit with sugar until it develops a thick, spreadable texture. With its distinctive sweet-tart flavour it makes a wonderful accompaniment to a cheeseboard, pairing beautifully with creamy, mature and strong-flavoured cheeses.

Quinces were widely treasured for their fragrance, and were made into hard confections, comfits or preserves in Medieval and Elizabethan times, and remained popular through to the Victorian era. They were highly regarded  because they naturally contain an unusually high amount of pectin. For centuries, medieval households relied heavily on the fruit as a crucial thickening agent to set their winter jams, jellies, and marmalades; however, with the invention and widespread availability of cheap, shelf-stable powdered pectin in the 20th century, home cooks no longer needed to cultivate or buy quinces just to preserve other fruits.
Sadly they fell out of fashion, mainly  because they cannot be eaten raw and are incredibly labour-intensive to prepare. To make them edible, they require a lot of physical effort to peel and core, followed by hours of slow cooking with massive amounts of sugar to unlock their sweet, floral flavour and signature ruby-red colour. With modern day capitalism and food production methods that value convenience and ease, the quince simply lost its place to low-maintenance fruits like apples and pears.

Fun fact: the Portuguese term marmelada (a traditional thick, dense fruit paste made from quince) even gave rise to the word “marmalade”.

ALLERGY ADVICE

We are a small business and everything is proudly hand-crafted. Whilst we take great care in what we do, we do operate in a small environment where major allergens are present. We therefore cannot guarantee that a product has not come into contact with other allergens such as peanuts, tree nuts or sesame seeds as we do use these ingredients in some of our products, so if you have a serious allergy, please be aware of these cross-contamination risks.

If you have any further questions regarding ingredients or food allergies, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us at info@cowleysfinefoods.co.uk

INGREDIENTS: quince, sugar, lemon juice, cornflour

May contain traces of peanuts, tree nuts, sesame, soy, milk, egg, mustard, fish, sulphur dioxide and sulphites, molluscs, lupin, cereals containing gluten.

This product is suitable for vegetarians & vegans.