Quince cheese (membrillo) apparently makes fabulous ice cream according to Tamasin Day Lewis - one of my fav cooks - and goes for a meagre
£5 per small box at Sainsbury's
recipe I googled for:
3 pounds quince, peeled, cored and quartered (peels and cores reserved)
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup water
Wrap quince peels and cores in cheesecloth and tie to secure well. In a saucepan combine bundle of peels along with quinces, sugar and water and cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and continue to cook until quinces are very soft, about 1 1/2 hours. Remove from heat.
Preheat oven to 175 degrees. Discard cheesecloth bundle and transfer cooked quinces to the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth. Transfer mixture to a small baking dish or loaf pan and dry paste in the oven for 15 hours. (This drying procedure can be spread over several days.)
also they can be roasted and are good with game -
Four people
Ingredients
700 g/ 1 ½ lb quartered quinces
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon honey or jelly (see text)
salt and pepper
180º C, 350º F, gas mark 4
On a nice oven to table dish put one layer of fresh or frozen quince sections, dot with butter and honey. I sometimes use quince jelly instead of honey, whatever you do I find that they need some sweetening, even for a savoury dish, to counteract their sharpness. Season with salt and pepper. Put in a hot oven until they are nicely coloured, it will take about half an hour if you used fresh quinces or longer if they were strait out of the freezer.
Excellent with roasted pheasant, chicken, etc.
I have attached a pic I found that shows them quite clearly...
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