fun with quince and ari

p.s. when ari was 'peeling' the quince, he was not under my supervision, but i thought these pictures were pretty cute...

a couple months ago, i found a woman on craigslist with a quince tree who didn't know what to do with the quince, but didn't want it to go to waste. so, never having heard of quince myself, i researched the fruit and discovered that they are apparently quite magical. ari and i went and picked 2 large boxes of quince, and slowly have been making things with them. they are a bit tricky, since you cannot eat them raw, but they have a great flavor and don't require any pectin when you can them for jelly. here are a few things we've made so far:

membrillo (quince paste) - it begins this color & magically turns into this:

it is delicious eaten with manchego (a spanish) cheese

baking/poaching the quince with cinnamon and cloves

then making them pretty with rosemary (from our garden) and star anise