MEMBRILLO-CANDIED QUINCE
10-12 small quinces
1 lemon, sliced
3-4 cups sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
Cinnamon stick or 2 tsp ground cinnamon (optional, to taste)
10-12 cloves (optional, to taste)
2 star anise (optional, to taste)
Juice of a small lemon
Wash quinces well, cut into slices, leaving skin on.
Place in large bowl with cold water and 1 lemon cut into slices.
In heavy-bottom pot, place sugar and juice of 1 lemon.
Discard water and place cut quinces into pot on top of sugar, stir to coat all slices.
Add cinnamon, cloves and star anise, cover pot, cook over medium heat.
As sugar and juices combine, stir from bottom up every 10 minutes.
After 30 minutes, reduce to simmer and cook 2 hours.
Uncover and cook additional 30 minutes so liquid starts to evaporate and thicken into syrup. Quinces will be dark red. (If there’s leftover syrup, it can be added to dafina (cholent), cocktails or atop ice cream.)
Refrigerate up to 1 month.
