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November 17, 2010

El Membrillo

In Spain it's typically called Dulce de Membrillo. If you travel to the country you can't miss it because it is usually displayed in pastry shop windows everywhere.  They just love it there. It is eaten at breakfast time with bread and also used to garnish other pastries like the famous Panelettes from Catalunia. It is best enjoyed when paired with Manchego cheese for dessert. I was fascinated by how it was made in homes when I lived there for a while. The process was quite simple but required a lot of patience. There were only two ingredients; quince and sugar. Lemon or orange juice was added for tartness according to ones taste. The  Membrillo I got from the shops I found a little too sweet for me. Now, I made one for you I'm sure you will like.

Choose the yellowest quince you can find. They are usually the sweetest and more fragrant. Wash them thoroughly to remove wax on the fruit.


Boil them in water until soft. This might take 30 minutes. Dump all of the boiling water to get rid of any more wax residue. Skin and core the fruit and puree the pulp with the sugar. I measured the puree in cups and it yielded 6. So I added 3 cups of sugar. Add half a cup more if you want it sweeter.


For tartness I put a quarter of a cup of calamundin orange juice. A calamundin orange has a combined taste of lemon and orange. I found them at a farmer's market but you can use lemon if you wish.



I used a cast iron pot to stir puree on medium heat for almost 30 minutes. The membrillo gets its natural color when heated and the sugars start to caramelize. Spoon a little of the paste into a plate to test if it coagulates instantly. Then it is ready to put into molds. I saved the skin and core of the quince to make jelly but that would be for another recipe.

5 comments:

  1. Hola Michelangelo!!! muchísimas gracias por tu comentario en mi blog!!!

    Este mebrillo te ha salido tremendo!!! con un buen queso el mejor de los postres!!!

    te sigo!! thanks!!

    ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. So you were in Spain for a while? Well, you learnt to master membrillo... ;)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Me encanta el membrillo,su aroma y su textura,un dulce saludable,con los ingredientes que tú le agregas debe quedar muy suave y aromático,cariños y gracias por andar en mi blog yo seguiré navegando en el tuyo,besos.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Gracias! Gracias! y Gracias!!! Celebramos todo lo que es bueno de Espana! Salud!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on the video to make your point. You definitely know what youre talking about, why waste your intelligence on just posting videos to your blog when you could be giving us something enlightening to read?
    Recuerdos para boda

    ReplyDelete

Art is in the Kitchen

Art is in the Kitchen
Arthur Escoto

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Napa, California, United States