Quince, Ayva as in Turkish, is a seasonal fruit, best enjoyed from October to early January and it is plentiful in Turkey.

Quince comes from the same family as apples and pears, and has a deliciously fragrant, rosy smell. There are also many health benefits of quince; it is packed with fiber, potassium and antioxidants. Quince is delicious when it’s ripe and you can enjoy eating raw, though it can also be quite tough to tackle. The hard, tangy and pale quince becomes soft, fragrant in a beautiful dark rosy pink color when it is cooked; quite a transformation for this humble fruit. Quince dessert, Ayva Tatlisi, is very popular in Turkey enjoyed in winter time, and it is divine, when cooked properly. You may notice some of the quince desserts come up in very deep, almost artificial red color, and I am afraid that case some artificial coloring may have been added to achieve this, which I avoid for my recipe.


Ingredients:

- 2 big size quinces
- 150gr/¾ cup sugar (or 20 – 30 gr more, if you prefer sweeter)
- 8 cloves
- 8oz./1 cup water
- Turkish thic cream (Kaymak)
- Grinded nut
- Half lemon's juice
- Grounded cinnamon (optional)

Estimated preparation and cooking time : 75 minutes



How to make:

Wash and cut the quinces in half, from side to side. Scoop out the core and keep the seeds, save the seeds aside. Peel the skin of the quince halves and set them aside too. Rub the peeled quince halves with the lemon juice; that will help quince not to go dark in color.

Spread the peels of quince as a layer in a heavy pan, wide enough to have 4 quince halves in one layer. Place the quince halves on top, in a way that the hollow side faces upwards. Spread the sugar evenly over the halves and stir in the reserved quince seeds, cloves and the water(or put seeds and cloves on sugar).

Bring the pan to a boil then reduce the heat to low and cover the pan. Simmer gently for about 60 minutes. Check the quinces with knife and if they are soften you can turn off the heat. If you want really dark color quince dessert like red, simmer firstly about 40 minutes. Check the quinces and flip the halves gently to the other side.The quinces will start turning to a rosy, darkish pink color and the syrup will start to thicken and caramelized. Stir in the ground cinnamon, cover and cook on low heat for another 40 minutes or until the fruit is cooked (you may need a little more or less cooking time depending on the size of the quince), turn the heat off. You will now get a richer dark rosy pink color and some caramelisation.

Leave the cooked quinces cool in the pan. The syrup will thicken even more and the color will go darker, thanks to the seeds acting as a natural thickener. Once cool, place the quince halves on a serving plate, with a dollop of clotted cream or even better, Turkish kaymak, the thick cream of the water buffalos over the top. You can sprinkle some crushed pistachio, nuts or walnuts over and serve.


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Enjoy your Quince Dessert.

Speical thanks to Ozlem Warren's recipe website. Her website is georgeous and deserve to visit from food lovers.
Her recipe link :
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