AUTUMN TO WINTER // Recipe for four

Quince cooked in pine sap with whipped brie

It is a lovely fact of our neighbourhood that every autumn we are bombarded with bags of quinces from the locals. It’s also pear season, and we use all the parts of the pear, even the cores – they have so much residual sugar. Each year we tap pine trees for their sap in early spring and save it to make this dish in autumn. The pine sap is strong and astringent. If the sap isn’t flowing, we use four green eucalyptus leaves for flavouring the quinces instead – steep the leaves in the poaching water and add the quinces. You can order whey from a dairy, or collect it yourself if you are making butter, cheese or yoghurt at home.

QUINCE IN PINE SAP

100 g (3½ oz) pine sap

50 ml (1³/₄ fl oz) lemon juice

400 g (14 oz) quinces, cut into four, seeds discarded

40 g (1½ oz) young, green pine needles, fresh from the tree

Dilute the pine sap in 600 ml (21 fl oz) water in a saucepan. Add the lemon juice and the cut quince. Add the pine needles and cook, uncovered, over low heat for 4 hours until the quince is tender. Chill in the liquid in the fridge.

WHIPPED BRIE

200 g (7 oz) soft brie

100 g (3½ oz) brown butter

3 g (¹/₈ oz) salt

50 ml (1³/₄ fl oz) whey (from butter, cheese or yoghurt making)

Remove the rind from the brie. Put the cheese in a food processor and pulse until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and then use a wooden spoon to slowly stir in the brown butter, salt and whey.

PLANTS TO FINISH

Young, green pine needles, fresh from the tree