Welcome....and quince.

Well, I suppose an introduction would be appropriate, I wouldn't want to be rude.

I'm Morrigan. Hazel eyed, raven haired, tattooed and possessed of a wandering spirit. Yes, I am part Rom.

There are many things that I enjoy, but my favorites would be travel, history, dance, genealogy and food. And single malt Scotch....in no particular order. I have two adult children though some days I am quite unsure how they made it to that status. Life is, all in all, pretty darned good; not easy, mind you, but good.

Currently, I reside in the Pacific Northwest (or PNW) of the United States, I was raised in this area and am used to fir trees, mountains, snow, drizzle and fog. I am less used to that bright thing in the sky called the Sun. Besides this great area, I've spent considerable time in the Republic of Korea, Europe mainland and the United Kingdom. I have further travels that I would love to undertake and will do so when the time is right.

I'm lucky in the fact that several of my consuming hobbies can be lumped together and I can enjoy many at once, and by that, I reference the history, travel, genealogy and food.

Which brings me to the next topic: Christmas and my oh-so-impossible mother. She's not impossible as in intolerable, she's simply impossible to select a gift for. This year, I decided to learn how to can preserves because I wanted to make my mother some quince jam for a gift.

What is quince? Why quince jam?

Well, let me address the "what". Quince, Cydonia oblonga, is related to both apples and pears and actually resembles a cross between the two. A ripe fruit is bright yellow, covered in fuzz and very aromatic with a scent vaguely like honeysuckle, apples, pears, and a summer day. They smell divine. Common in the Middle East and Asia, they spread to Europe, the UK, and both North and South America. You may still find them on old farmsteads and untended ancient orchards.

However delicious they smell, they are usually not eaten in-hand due to a very grainy texture and because they are bitter. Raw quince makes raw rhubarb seem like a treat. On a side note, there are a few varieties that are sweet enough to be eaten out-of-hand, but they are uncommon and you generally will not know until you taste it.

To make them delicious, they must be cooked, usually with sugar. Sometimes they are served as a sweet (like a jam or a paste with tangy Spanish cheese), and sometimes they are used in savory cookery. The Romans ate them, if that tells you of their antiquity. You can find more information all over the web, if you are interested in this unusual cultivar. They are in season in the fall and winter, and some stores may even have some still in the produce section. Just ask your grocer.

This brings me back to the "why". My great-grandmother had an old farmstead in Oregon when I was a small child. See, the quince is a family tradition. I could buy the jam, of course, but I found the texture of the Persian jams to be too thick and not all that tasty. I decided to make it myself, for my mother. It was a rousing success and due to the large number of quince I purchased (my trees are too small to bear fruit yet), I ended up making quince-lemon jam, quince-orange flower jam, and cranberry-quince compote. All very delicious.

In the event you wish to grow your own quince, you can obtain trees from the fabulous people at Raintree Nursery in Morton, WA.

Welcome to my random musings and wanderings of spirit.