Originally, I wanted to use my quinces to make membrillo (Spanish quince paste), but I sort of winged the recipe…which apparently wasn’t such a good idea, as the mixture didn’t set as as firmly as membrillo should. So, voilà! Quince jam instead. Ripening quince give off the most amazing fragrance (someone should bottle the stuff and sell as a perfume). You’ll know that they are ripe by the aforementioned smell and because they turn a little yellow-y gold. (Keep in mind that you can’t eat quince out of hand – they need to be cooked.)

Special Equipment: a large saucepan, food processor, canning jars
Makes about 3 cups of jam

Organic quince ready to be made into jam

Quince Jam

Ingredients:

5-6 ripe quince (about 7 cups) rinsed to remove fuzz, peeled, cored, and sliced thinly
Water to cover
4 cups sugar (or more, depending on how much purée you make)
1/2 vanilla bean, split, or 1 rosemary sprig (optional)

Procedure:

1. In a large saucepan, just barely cover the quince and optional vanilla bean (or rosemary sprig) with cold water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a bare simmer.
2. Cook quince mixture until the quince are very soft, about 45 minutes. (You may have to replenish the water from time to time.)
3. Remove the vanilla bean. Cool slightly, then puree the quince in a food processor with one cup of the poaching liquid. You should have about 4 cups of puree.
4. Rinse the pot you used to poach the quince. Add the quince puree and the sugar (if you have more than 4 cups of puree, add the equivalent amount of sugar – you want equal amounts of sugar and puree). Let the mixture sit for 30 minutes.
5. Return the pot to the medium heat. Bring the mixture to the boil, stirring constantly, then reduce heat to low (the mixture should be just barely bubbling). Cook on low heat until the mixture is somewhat translucent, shiny, and very thick, about 30 minutes.

A quick note about buttermilk – so called “traditional” buttermilk is the liquid that is extruded during the butter-making process (you can see it pretty clearly in the photos below). Modern buttermilk is simply cow’s milk to which various bacterial cultures have been added (like yogurt) that produce the characteristic tang and thickness of commercial buttermilk.

You’ll need:
One pint high-quality heavy cream
A stand mixer
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt (optional)

Procedure:

1. Pour the heavy cream into the bowl of the mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.

2. Start the mixer out on low (position 2 on a KitchenAid Mixer) so you don’t spray heavy cream all over yourself.

3. Increase the mixer speed gradually to medium-high (position 6). After 2-3 minutes, the cream will start to thicken to the consistency of sour cream.

4. Keep going, and watch as the cream begins to turn into whipped cream. First, soft peaks (still sort of runny).

5. Then, hard peaks. It will take between 3-5 minutes for the cream to reach this stage.

6. At this point, if you were making whipped cream you’d probably shed a little tear, because the cream is starting to curdle. For our purposes – have no fear – keep going.

7. After another minute or two, you’ll see the cream really start to clump up. Another magical thing you’ll start to notice: the cream will start to get more yellow in color. Things happen really fast after this.

8. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. You’ll probably have scrape more than once.

9. You’ll start seeing the cream clump even more. Buttermilk will begin to extrude from the mixture and it will become even more butter-yellow.  At first, a tiny bit of buttermilk will come out:

10. Then, a huge amount! From one pint of heavy cream, I collected about a cup of buttermilk. Turn the mixer back down to low so you don’t spray buttermilk all over yourself.

11. Keep going on low – more and more buttermilk will be extracted. Stop when you see about a cup of buttermilk in your mixer bowl (you don’t have to measure – just estimate).

12. It’s a little strange – but now you have to wash the butter. This prolongs the butter’s life and actually extracts even more buttermilk. Pour off the buttermilk (you can use it in cooking just like you’d use regular buttermilk) and gather the butter bits together. Under cold running water, squish the butter between your fingers, taking care not to drop any in the sink (you should see additional buttermilk come out).

13. You can put your new butterball back into the mixer and beat in a bit of salt, if you like (this will preserve the butter even longer).

14. Roll up into a tube using a piece of wax paper, parchment, or plastic wrap and refrigerate or use immediately.

15. You have butter! The entire operation took maybe 20-25 minutes.

You’ll need:

1 liter fresh apple cider
A heavy pot large enough to accommodate all of your cider
Some extra time

Procedure:

1. Pour the cider into your pot. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring from time to time.
2. Turn the heat down to medium-low. Let the cider gently simmer, stirring occasionally, until it has reduced by about 80%- 85%. This took several hours, but I think I was being overly cautious by keeping the flame so low (I was doing other stuff and didn’t want to hang out in the kitchen the whole time, stirring the cider). Just make sure that you keep a good eye on it toward the end of cooking, when you see it really starting to reduce. You’ll notice the smell of caramel – at this point, stir a little more frequently so it doesn’t scorch on the bottom (because that would be tragic).

Makes about 1 cup.

Ingredients
1/2 cup sugar
10-15 green cardamom pods

Procedure

1. Combine the sugar and cardamom pods in a clean, airtight container.
2. Let sit for at least 24 hours before using.