18^th century

Quince Tart

Quince was a favoured fruit from as early as we can know from contemporary cookery books. Recipes for quince tart and preserving quince are plenty. In fact, it appears there are more recipes using quince than any other fruit.

‘Chardequince’ and ‘Chardewarden’ were sweet fruit pastes made from quince or warden pears, thickened with eggs, that appear in medieval English cookery manuscripts. Little sweetmeats were imported from Portugal, Genoa, Spain and France and were known as ‘marmalades’, from the Portuguese ‘marmelo’ meaning quince. Later, quince were cooked down to a paste which was then moulded by a seal-like wooden stamp. ‘Paste of Genua’ was one of the recipes, similar to the modern Spanish ‘membrillo’ which came to be known as quince cheese. Eventually, ‘marmalade’ became the name for the orange preserve we know today rather than quince preserve, but early recipes are very much more like a fruit cheese or ‘cutting marmalade’ (quince cheese) which would be stored in boxes.

To keep the quince’s nice red colour they were cooked with the lid on the pot for a long time, but sometimes the juice of red barberries, grapes or the colouring agent cochineal – made from crushed beetles – was added to enhance the colour.

In the recipe below the author instructs to use close or cut covers: these cut covers were early lattice tops, with shapes cut out of the pastry lid to create a design for which templates were often provided in old books.

Boil your Quinces in Water, sweetened with Sugar, till they be soft, then skin them and take out the Cores; after that boil the Water with a little more Sugar, Cloves, Cinnamon and Lemon peel till it becomes of the thickness of a Syrup; when cold lay your Quinces in Halves or Quarters, scattering Sugar between each Layer; put a pint of the Syrup, or more according to the Biggness of your Pye or Tart, make the Coffin round with close or cut Covers, and bake it pretty well. And thus you may do with Pippins and Pearmains, or with Winter-Fruit, and also with green Codlings.

The Whole Duty of a Woman, 1707