Quince

[punkin]

Anyone ever made a wine or cider with these?

There's a stack of wild ones up in the hills where i pick apples.

 

[Eggs]

dont know about cider or wine, but they make great jams, jellies and paste!

 

[Charst]

bridge road have make a saison with them in it before. it was a cracker

 

[Bizier]

I have thought about this, and I would like to know people's experiences.

One interesting thing that may or may not be useful is that if you freeze quince, the texture of the fruit becomes sponge-like on thawing and you should be able to easily extract clear sweet juice by pressing.

 

[Greg.L]

I haven't tried it myself but saw some comments from someone who did, they said the flavours were strange and they wouldn't do it again. Since quince is so common but is never used for cider, I think it is safe to assume that it is a bad idea.

Greg

 

[punkin]

Thanks guys, specially Greg. B)

 

[Muscovy_333]

Its on my list of things to try.
A mate has a loaded tree in Ballarat that i'm waiting for..

They are very starchy until boiled when they turn bright red.

 

[Muggus]

It'd be a bit like using crab apples wouldn't it?
I reckon on its own it might be a bit rough, but as a blending component with apples/pears to give a bit of acid and bitterness to a proper cider/perry.

 

[Greg.L]

Here is the quote from the cider workshop.

"I tried a small batch a few years ago, roughly 70:30 proportions apple
to quince pomace, because I had the quinces. Can't remember any SG
details, never measured the Ph.

The resulting cider tasted very odd indeed, not exactly unpleasant but
not exactly nice. It had a weird slight chemical overtone best
described as tasting like the smell of paint. It matured slowly to a
more palatable flavour over a few years, but I'd not try it again.

In summary : Quinces - IMHO good in apple pies, not good in cider. "

 

[Muggus]

It had a weird slight chemical overtone best
described as tasting like the smell of paint. It matured slowly to a
more palatable flavour over a few years, but I'd not try it again.

Sounds a bit like certain Perrys, where you can get that slightly kerosene-y sort of smell about them.

 

[mondestrunken]

Has anyone made quince mead?

I was thinking about cooking some quinces down, adding it to a mead secondary fermentation.

Maybe the off-flavours that have been reported above occur from the primary fermentation?

Otherwise I would've thought quince would add an awesome floral type aroma.