My oldest loves Maggie Beers pear paste with her cheese but it is so expensive and such a small tub so she has asked me to make it. I picked up some ripe pears and also some quince and thought I would mix it together as I know she will not like just quince. Any recipes or ideas would be wonderful.

marcs - 2015-05-20 22:24:00

Marcs this is the one I make every year now. I am sure you could mix the pear and quince together; I just use one fruit in my paste. I follow the general recipe and use it for plum, pear, quince and apricot.
I had 1.5 kg of quince, six small ones. I quartered them and added 1/2 c water & juice of two lemons & cooked them on high until softened. I then removed the cores & skin, much easier to do when they have softened. I put the remaining pulp into my blender then through a sieve. I measured 1 cup of sugar to one cup of pulp. I found 800ml of the mix cooked well in my 2 litre jug, about 20 minutes on high stirring regularly. It turns to a lovely ruby colour & set really quickly without additional drying in the oven. Best of all no splatters on the walls or me!

Edited by nanasee1 at 6:58 am, Thu 21 May

nanasee1 - 2015-05-21 06:57:00

Thank you. Love the fact it does not have pectin. Do you add the left over liquid back into the pot with sugar? Also how long does it keep.?

marcs - 2015-05-21 13:04:00

Hi marcs. There is no extra liquid with my method, just the pulp once blended. When the paste is cold & set I cut it into squares & wrap each individually in baking paper. I keep it in a sealed container in the fridge & it has lasted 2 years; although it does get firmer by then. I believe it is okay to freeze it as well but I have never tried. I have never needed pectin in the pastes I've made.

nanasee1 - 2015-05-21 17:11:00

A job for tomorrow. Thank you.

marcs - 2015-05-21 17:24:00

If you don't mind adding some figs then you might enjoy this spread...
Fig & Pear Paste
1 pkt tasti dries figs chopped 4 just-ripe pears, peeled, cored, chopped ¼ cup water 300gr white sugar (approx) Combine the figs, pear and water in a large saucepan over high heat. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes or until tender. Remove from heat and set aside for 10 minutes to cool slightly. Transfer mixture to the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth. Weigh mixture. You will need the same weight of sugar as the puree for this recipe. (actually I go a bit less as it is very sweet) Combine the puree and sugar in a heavy-based saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring, for 10 minutes or until sugar dissolves. Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 1 hour or. Can be stored in sterilised jars with lid on until. Remove from heat. Nice served with blue cheese and crackers.

Quote
macandrosie (252 252 positive feedback) 8:05 pm, Fri 28 Mar #13

bev00 - 2016-04-18 01:00:00

I have developed a similar method to Nanasee except I core them at the beginning when I quarter them which isn't too hard to do. Then in a pot covered with water with the zest of a lemon (just peel off in large strip with a potato peeler ) and boil for about 30 mins till really soft. Scoop out all the quince and lemon from the pot (save the liquid ) into a food processor (the skins are very soft after being cooked) and then pass through a sieve. Into a very large microwave bowl ( I use a big arcroc type of one that holds about 4litres that I got from briscoes) with equal quantity of sugar. In microwave for 5 min bursts on high, stiring in between until it thickens and is golden ruby colour . Pour into glad wrap lined dish to set. Cut into serving size squares when it has cooled . Cooking time will depend on quantity. I do between 800 g and 1.4kg of fruit (+equal volume of sugar) at a time and usually abut 40 mins.
With the water that is left in the pot after removing the fruit - strain it to remove any little bits so it is clear liquid. Put back into pot and boil to reduce by a third . Then add equal volume of sugar. Boil until turning light golden ruby color and reaches jam setting point (the teaspoon on a cold saucer wrinkle test) and pour into sterile jars -voila - quince jelly with the leftover cooking water. I find I boil it with the sugar for about 10 min.

gennie - 2016-04-18 13:08:00

This is the easiest and quickest method. I just made the best quince paste I have ever made. I changed a couple of things. Thanks nanasee1

nanasee1 wrote:

Marcs this is the one I make every year now. I am sure you could mix the pear and quince together; I just use one fruit in my paste. I follow the general recipe and use it for plum, pear, quince and apricot.
I had 1.5 kg of quince, six small ones. I quartered them and added 1/2 c water & juice of two lemons & cooked them on high until softened. I then removed the cores & skin, much easier to do when they have softened. I put the remaining pulp into my blender then through a sieve. I measured 1 cup of sugar to one cup of pulp. I found 800ml of the mix cooked well in my 2 litre jug, about 20 minutes on high stirring regularly. It turns to a lovely ruby colour & set really quickly without additional drying in the oven. Best of all no splatters on the walls or me!

malcovy - 2016-04-30 14:06:00

You are welcome malcovy; enjoy

nanasee1 - 2016-04-30 15:12:00

bump

bev00 - 2017-04-29 23:10:00

Feijoas also make an excellent fruit-paste.

schnauzer11 - 2017-05-01 02:35:00

bump

bev00 - 2018-04-30 21:17:00

I used the same basic recipe idea this year and made crab apple paste - yum!

nanasee1 - 2018-05-03 21:27:00

Using your method nanasee I made damson paste and it was good.

malcovy - 2018-05-04 18:32:00

Paste although lovely, is just a thick jam, or jelly.
For years I've eaten jam and cheese, so I didn't find much of a difference in the taste of paste and cheese...its just "posher" now.

wheelz - 2018-05-04 20:19:00

Help! I’m using nanasee’s method but finding it very difficult to get anything through my sieve. Is the sieve too fine? Pulp too thick? It’s a kind of yellow orange colour after going through the food processor.

Edited by blands70 at 5:57 pm, Sat 5 May

blands70 - 2018-05-05 17:57:00

blands70 wrote:

Help! I’m using nanasee’s method but finding it very difficult to get anything through my sieve. Is the sieve too fine? Pulp too thick? It’s a kind of yellow orange colour after going through the food processor.

OK - I think I resolved it - partially - by adding a bit of water and re-blending. They were pretty dry after draining for jelly. So I only got just under a cup through the sieve.

Did 2x 5 minute bursts in the microwave which unfortunately seems to have been a bit long because I think I now have quince toffee! But it seems like it would have worked, had I cooked it a bit less. I have another 6 large quince so maybe next weekend I'll try again.

blands70 - 2018-05-05 19:24:00

And - now resolved. The paste was rock hard like boiled sweets but I resurrected it by cooking slowly with water until it melted. Kept adding water and slowly stirring and melting, and it’s now paste!

Pro tip - instead of setting in a tray and cutting into slices, I have set it in silicon muffin trays. Makes perfect sized rounds and pops out perfectly when set.

blands70 - 2018-05-06 15:24:00

Blands70 I am pleased to hear you have resolved the issues, sorry haven't been back in to look over the last few days.

nanasee1 - 2018-05-06 15:55:00

nanasee1 wrote:

Blands70 I am pleased to hear you have resolved the issues, sorry haven't been back in to look over the last few days.

Thanks! It’s a great recipe - not foolproof but I’m glad I managed to end up with the right result. I have more quinces so will try again next weekend and hopefully get it right first time!

I think my issue with the pulp not going through the sieve was due to it being too dry - it had been draining through muslin for several hours for my jelly - so next time will add some more liquid when I’m processing before sieving. And will make sure it doesn’t go too far in the microwave!

Highly recommend setting in silicon muffin trays or similar (or the silicon giant ice cube trays from Kmart would probably be even better)

Edited by blands70 at 4:23 pm, Sun 6 May

blands70 - 2018-05-06 16:23:00

The member deleted this message.

bev00 - 2019-05-06 00:26:00

bump

bev00 - 2019-05-06 00:26:00