In September 2019, I harvested quince from our large tree to make quince jelly, which is yummy with cold meats and delicious on toast. Missed out on my visits in 2020 for obvious reasons and returned this year to find a total of two quince on the tree! Luckily I’ve one jar left from my 2019 batch.
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We have friends here with a quince tree in their garden, and on Sunday evening we ate Apple, blackberry and quince crumble with them - very nice it was too. No runcible spoons were in evidence.
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The recipe I have is just 4 ingredients - quince, lemons, caster sugar and water. So easy to make.
I’ve never really thought about the “slices of quince” before, but now that I think of it, it could possibly be a constituent of sweet mince? That would make sense of the nonsense poem!
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We used to live near the Raspberry/Strawberry capitol of Scotland, Blairgowrie. Surrounded by polytunnels we got fresh fruit from the farms starting in April until end of October (if I went to pick it myself, as the pickers usually left by end of September).
Abundance to a point were it made no sense to grow any in our garden.
Here I just have a row of Raspberry canes (still a few very late berries) - planted by the previous owners and a few scraggely sloe bushes/trees, a fig tree (not a fruit this year). Also a very old apple tree which got severely pruned (no fruit this year) and a newly planted Quince.
Planning to bring a few apples from Germany - in honour to my Grandpa, will plant his two favourites.
I did plant strawberries in a barrel and some wild strawberries as groundcover. Both were very productive on a daily basis. Had to be quick though to get there before the chickens.
Still getting to grips with gardening in France… either not enough water - or too much. Heat - or just about right (if you moved from Scotland).
But great fun - and still much to learn. Been gardening so far in Germany, USA, England, Canada, Scotland and now north Charente France.
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I went to prep school just along the road and had various little friends whose parents had fruit etc farms 
remember you mentioned Butterstone? Its now a music centre, Dougie McLean lives there and does summer concerts.
The School unfortunately closed some years ago.
My prep school was merged with another and moved, I knew it had been replaced by a special school but I hadn’t realised it had now closed down.
Just made some creme de cassis equivalent so was reminded of this thread! Unfortunately (still no kitchen) the mix overheated… (This recipe steeps blackcurrants in red wine for a couple of days, then blitzed and allowed to filter through muslin overnight and heated gently for a couple of hours before cooling and mixing with vodka)
The resulting warm (hot!) blackcurrant and wine mix thickened nearly to a jelly. It’s sort of liquid now I added the vodka but I don’t think it’s one of my successes.
Reading back, perhaps I’d better try one of those “steep in spirits then bottle” recipes rather than one that requires heat 
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I’ve got a jar of cherries which have been steeeeping in eau de vie for a few years… I’m not sure if they or the liqueur will be safe to consume… 
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The steeping thing is what I do.
Last autumn I started some apple vodka again, and just recently separated the liquor and fruit. Last time it was obvious that there was a lot of liquid soaked into the apple, so this time I allowed the apple to stand after draining. Bingo! Lots more liquid was recovered. In the end I used a combination of draining and pressing to get back nearly a litre of liquor from the apple pulp, giving nearly 4.5 litres instead of 3.5 if I’d just taken the first liquor. The later material tastes a little different from the first so it’s been bulk-blended and bottled again to finish clearing.
Bought some miel de fleurs last week, and have added a teaspoon to each litre to soften the edge a little. Apples can be quite harsh.
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First tasted drunken-cherries during a coach trip to a weekend Car Exhibition at Lyon… and it was a terrible shock to my system…
then I was given some of the licor to drink… and that finished me.
By the time our coach reached our hotel… we were nearly all drunk as skunks…
That was quite a few years ago, but many of us still shudder when Jean-Marie waves some of his unlabelled bottles/jars at us… hic…
I’m hoping my cherry concoction will be softer and gentler on the palate.
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We froze away the apple pulp +vodka from the first batch, but I’m the only one who likes it. 
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Well, you’re alright then… the rest can have cornflakes…
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Sloe gin for Christmas.
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At Christmas, us kids were allowed just a sip of Ginger Wine… out of Mum’s glass.
Very envious when our elder sister was deemed grown-up enough to have her own tiny glass with a splash of the magic liquid…
I bet it is fabulous swirled through Greek yoghurt ice cream 
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Hi Toni,
Can you pls post the recipe and method?
Each year I’m given 4-5 bushels of Bramley apples most I give away.
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This is last year’s attempt at making cherry vodka, I completely forgot about until reading this post.
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I use a large (2.5L) kilner jar.
Peel, core and slice apples into thin slices that are stacked inside the jar. Add a cinnamon stick if desired, juice of half a lemon and 50g sugar or a couple of spoonfuls of honey. Pour on vodka until the apple slices are covered - I used cinnamon sticks in the jar mouth to stop the apple floating up & out of the vodka. Move every day gently to let the air out from between the slices for the first couple of weeks, then put somewhere cool and forget them for 6 months. Drain the liquor off though a filter (I bought nylon filters from Amazon) and do the extraction I mentioned if desired. set aside for another few months to clarify, rack & sweeten more if desired (easy to add sweetness, hard to reduce it). Enjoy.
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I’m not all that keen on bramleys but they’re great for making preserves of various sorts. I make blackberry and apple jelly every year, which goes down a storm. Never tried making any kind of liqueur with them though. (I only grow French dessert apples as I find them more versatile, but bramleys are definitely recommended for jams and jellies)