Quinces

We love autumn because autumn brings quinces! You can do lots of things with quinces, but we think the best option is to bake them until transformed into glorious ruby-red buttery goodness, mmm...

This recipe uses 6 quinces plus:

• 1 1/2 cups of raw sugar
• 4 1/2 cups of water
• 2 oranges
• 1 tablespoon each green cardamon pods, cloves, ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Experiment as you like! I've seen other recipes that use star anise, wine, lemon, peppercorns, vanilla, more/less sugar...

Quinces take a looong time to bake, i.e., 5 hours! Which makes this a nice rainy-day recipe, when staying snug at home with a hot cup of tea.

wash the quinces well (remove any furry outer coating), and halve

then cut each into 8 segments, removing the gritty core

arrange snugly in a baking dish (or 2)

juice the oranges

remove the bitter white pith from the peel of 1 orange, and slice thinly

combine the sugar, water, orange juice, peel and spices in a saucepan and bring to a gentle boil

pour the syrup evenly over the quinces and bake in a cool oven (120 degrees) for ~5 hours...

... until buttery-soft and a lovely rosy red. You will need to turn the quinces once or twice to stop them from drying out on one side

We like to eat them for breakfast with creamy yoghurt (ideally from Elgaar Farm if you are lucky enough to live in Tasmania)  and muesli, but they are equally good for dessert