A FEW years ago I spent some time working in Wateringbury near Maidstone.

One of the great things about my time down there was that two or three times a week, myself and one of my other chefs would spend a couple of hours in the morning visiting two or three local farms.

We would go into the fields picking out the vegetables and fruit we wanted delivered later that day — now you can’t get fresher than that.

We learned more about the way they were grown and when the vegetables and fruit were at their best. You might well ask how this relates to this week’s recipe.

Well, on one of my first jaunts out I came across the quince, which is a fuzzy yellow cousin of the apple and the pear.

Although not particularly well known it is an ancient fruit and some scholars believe it originated before the apple and was the real forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden.

Norton Priory, where I seem to recall doing some catering in the distant past, held the first quince festival a few weeks ago.

Poached Quince

Ingredients
600ml water
1.25 cups sugar
2 quinces
Juice of half a small lemon

Method
Make a light sugar syrup by combining the sugar and water in a saucepan and stirring over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved.

Peel the quinces and cut into quarters or sixths. Cut out the cores and place in a piece of muslin cloth tied into a loose bag.

Put the sugar, syrup, lemon juice and bag containing the cores into a casserole dish and mix together. Add the quinces.

Cover and bake in a preheated oven 180c for four to six hours until the quinces are a lovely deep red. Do not stir the quinces during cooking.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool before serving. Poached quinces are great served with cream, yoghurt, or a soft goat cheese.