Quince jelly

For me, autumn is all about foraging apples, wild plums and best of all, quinces! It's been a very good year, with all that fabulous spring sunshine and rain when we should have had high summer.

This monster quince is typical of an especially good weather year.

Quince fruit is fragrant, bright golden and often covered in a light downy fuzz. The quince has a long history going back to the ancient empire of Mesopotamia and recipes for its use appear in Roman cookbooks. It's related to apples and pears.

[Pancrace Bessa, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons]

A bootful of pure gold

When cooked and sweetened quinces develop a rich pinky-russet colour with a unique flavour. Quinces can be poached or braised with star anise, allspice, cloves and cinnamon and served with plain yoghurt or ice cream. I make mine into a fantastic jelly, which is versatile enough to eat on fresh bread and butter, toast, and crumpets; try with sharp cheese, stir into gravy or sauces; use to glaze roasting meat.

This is just for me: quince flavoured gin steeping nicely in time for Christmas.