As part of my grand quince experiment this fall at Tulipwood, I decided to go way back to my culinary school days and make a fancy schmancy quince pate de fruit recipe. This, like my last quince recipe, would make a wonderful homemade gift this holiday season. And unlike the quince membrillo, this is the type of recipe that would work well with other fruits.
A pâte de fruit is a type of traditional French confectionery made of a set fruit paste. The flavor of the fruit is concentrated, similar to making a jam, with sugar and pectin, before setting and dusting with sugar.
I have a tin of different shapes and sizes that I played with here. I opted for hearts and stars.
But you could really do any shape and size you want. You could also cut them by hand into squares.
I set them on a doily for serving, they are lovely for a holiday afternoon tea! How British of me.
These are a little sweet and a little sour which I loved because they kept you going back for more.
The quince fruit naturally lends itself to jelly candies, but these work with so many other flavorings because the ingredients in this recipe don’t rely on natural pectin from fruit to gel. You could try lemon, apple, rose, orange, strawberry, raspberry, you name it!
Once you dust them with sugar they will slowly absorb the sugar and it will melt away.
I wrapped them in cellophane packages with tape, then wrapped in butchers paper and twine.
I also used our Tulipwood sticker here.
You can play around with the placement and come up with a nice label yourself. I like this label because it represents where the quince fruit was grown.
I think you’ll like making these this season. You can buy quince in stores like Whole Foods, but you can really make these candies with so many other fruits. And they make the perfect hostess gift.
Check out my other Quince Recipes.
“Homemade Gift: Quince Pâte de Fruit”
Ingredients
- 720 grams quince juice
- 400 g corn syrup
- 50 g citric acid or 60 ml lemon juice
- 150 g pectin
Instructions
- Bring 720 grams of poaching liquid to a boil.
- Add the lemon juice and corn syrup and simmer.
- Sprinkle in the pectin while whisking constantly and bring the temperature of the mixture to 227° F.
- Cook at this temperature for 5 minutes while skimming the top.
- Sprinkle a sheet tray with water and line it with plastic wrap. This will make the jellies easy to remove once they're set.
- Pour the mixture onto the plastic covered tray and let cool until completely set.
- Once cool, the jellies can be cut into squares and tossed in sugar.