Poached quinces - a winter's antidote

If the reader prefers, this can be regarded simply as a poached quinces recipe. The one that gets you a ruby-red tenderness from the hard and inedible fruit.

As a matter of fact, when I came across it in Gourmet Traveller, I was completely desperate for an antidote to my winter blues.

Winter is not the type of fair you buy a ticket too. Like it or not, you are in attendance, with or without your scarf and gloves.

The daily orchestra of rain and never ending wind chorus sets sadness even in the most joyful of souls. This questionable composition plays out till its natural end, months in a row.

Deep in suburbia, I was ready for a battle. Armed with vanilla, cinnamon quill and lemons, I set my eyes on a pair of quinces.

I needed some burgundy from the virtues of poaching; I got the happiness and spring itself.

Ingredients

From Gourmet Traveller with some small changes.

800g organic coconut sugar

1 vanilla bean, split

2 lemon, cut in half

2 cinnamon quills

3 star anise

2 or 3 large quinces

Method

Place all ingredients apart from the quinces in an ovenproof pot and bring to the boil. 
Peel, cut and quarter the quinces, remove the cores.  Add to you a pot and bring to a simmer. Place in oven until quince are the desired tenderness and colour (between 2 to 3 hours for a ruby colour). To get a deep burgundy, leave them to cool completely overnight in oven.