Quince Apple Candy

Last weekend at the local Farmer's Market I saw a guy selling quince, which I've neither seen nor tasted before, so I bought one. Fifty cents, and he threw in a couple random citrus fruits for good measure. I had thought that quince was a kind of citrus, but it turns out it's related to pears and apples. It looks like kind of a squat pear, but it has a much tougher flesh. I knew I had seen a recipe with quince in Room for Dessert. When I checked it out at home, the recipe was for Quince Paste, which I used to make a candy.

Now, the recipe called for four quinces and I had only bought one. I did have an extra apple in the fridge, which is related to the quince, and which the recipe said you could substitute. So, rather than quartering the recipe, I added in the apple and halved the recipe. I have to admit, I made a quite a few other adjustments as well. The recipe calls for half of a lemon, which I didn't have handy, so I used half of a lime. After simmering the fruit for a while, you're supposed to press it through a sieve, which I had trouble with, so I used my trusty hand blender. Worked great. I also used a silicone baking sheet to keep the paste from sticking to the tray while it cooled. Last step, chopping into squares and tossing in sugar.

The candy tastes basically like apples and has kind of an extra soft gummy bear texture. Pectin? I would like to try it sometime with just quince, to see the flavor difference. I'm bringing it into work, otherwise I would eat it all, as usual.