Quince Dessert/ Ayva Tatlısı

Quinces are really plentiful in Istanbul right now. It is their time.  I was waiting at the traffic lights the other day and saw an old man with a huge basket of them on his back just walking down the pavement. You see trucks full of them driving by!

does this appeal?

I have to confess I have never made this in my life till a few days ago, despite it being the dessert of choice at this time of year for many Turks. Why is that, you may wonder? Purely because I knew that a lot of sugar was involved and that was enough to delay making this yummy dessert till now. Amazing, really. But I still had three lovely big quinces left after making the jam and we had dinner guests coming so I thought this was my big opportunity.

in the pan ready for slow, gentle cooking

 And guess what, it was very successful, easy to make, and looked most appetising at the end of the long, gentle cooking. Again, just like the jam, no extra colouring was needed. The beautiful  pinky red developed before my eyes as well as the exotic fragrance as the sugar and lemon caramelised around the fruit.  Though I say it myself,  it looked and tasted quite like the real thing! I will definitely be making this again!

Ingredients

1 or 2 halves per person depending on size and appetite!

4 quinces

8 cloves/karanfil

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

Juice of ½ lemon

Clotted cream/kaymak

Method

§  Peel the quinces and cut in half. Reserving the seeds, scoop out the cores to create hollows and insert a clove into each one. Place the quinces in a pan able to accommodate them in one layer. Add the water, seeds, sugar and lemon juice.

§  Cook over low heat for about 60 mins or until the fruit is tender, pink, and slightly caramelised. If needed, add a little extra water during cooking time to prevent the fruit sticking to the bottom of the pan.

§  Leave to cool in the pan, remove the cloves and seeds, and serve with the cream or kaymak ( buffalo cream!).



cooled and ready to serve



If you can get hold of quinces, I think this is a great dessert to make for friends or family. There are many recipes out there for it but this is one of Angie Mitchell's.