Secrets and Urban Legends of Ayva Tatlısı (Quince Dessert)

There was the time when I thought that quince, a fruit that looks like a bright yellow oversized pear, was hard, astringent, and impossible to eat. That was surely before I tried ayva tatlısı, a classic Turkish dessert of quince poached in sugar syrup. Ayva tatlısı is a good example of how carefully you should pick a right cooking method to fully unleash the flavor of a seasonal ingredient. A few hours of gentle cooking in the sugar syrup do wonders to quinces: every tiny cell of the fruit gets saturated with the viscous syrup, and the quince transforms into a soft candy perfumed with a floral fragrance that even the most skilled perfumer at the Spice Market would not be able to replicate.

I first tried this dessert prepared specially for me in a Turkish home. By that time I was sure I had reached the ultimate heaven through the excessive introduction to all the baklavas and lokums. But when I tried ayva tatlısı I realized that the new horizons in the Turkish desserts were yet aplenty. A deep ruby colored boat with a dollop of kaymak (clotted cream) was sinful. I am happy that my first introduction to ayva tatlısı set such a high bar to my expectations about this dessert.

Later I discovered that starting from October and all the way throughout the cold season ayva tatlısı is a keeper for many Turkish home cooks. At every single market you find plenty of the yellow beauties on the cheap. The hands-on prep takes a few minutes (as long as it takes you to halve the fruit, peel and core it). And - when done right - the outcome is so rewarding.

For a long time I have been intimidated by the secretive techniques involved. Indeed, here in Turkey you often hear common urban legends about ayva tatlısı. They come from two types of people: 1) those who never cooked a single ayva tatlısı in their lives and 2) those who resort to the shortcuts and use the said legends to cover that up.

One urban legend is that you must reserve the quince seeds and add them to the syrup as you poach your quince: apparently, it is the seeds that give that deep color to the cooked quince. Well, the deep ruby color that quince gets is the result of transformation of the very tannins that make quince astringent when raw: during cooking tannins ensure that quince turns red. The seeds have nothing to be with color, but the reason they are added to the syrup (and especially, if quince jam is made) is because they contain a lot of pectin that acts as a natural thickener (and makes quince such a natural fruit for marmalade making).

The second urban legend about ayva tatlısı is that it does not take long to get that deep-ruby color. Unfortunately, as the fall comes I see a lot of toxic red quinces in the windows of the Istanbul confectionery stores. Who has 6 hours to cook quince these days indeed? Thankfully, some folks still do. Yes, it may take up to 6 hours to get the perfect color. So to shorten the cooking time enterprising sweets makers would add artificial colorants. Using such a colorant is a double cheating: not only the color is fake, but also the texture of the briefly cooked quince is like your poached pear whereas it is supposed to be a rich soft candy. How can you tell a colorant was involved? Well, the color is too bright, and as you slice the quince the inside remains pale.

After I cracked these two urban legends only a few challenges remained: to pick up the suitable type of quince and to get the sugar syrup right. Speaking of the quince varieties I must assure you that not all the quinces are terribly astringent and inedible when raw. Here in Turkey we have ekmek ayvası that is softer and very palatable: you’d commonly find on the fruit platter of the Turkish restaurants, and at times it might as well be the only meze served along with rakı (ask your Turkish friends who drinks rakı about the name of the treat). This quince variety is also commonly used for making the dessert; if you use harder and sourer varieties of quince (e.g. what we call limon ayvası here) you might consider longer cooking time and adjusting the amount of sugar.

With the sugar syrup the trick is to make it not too thick, or it will become a caramel by the time the quince is cooked, but not too thin either otherwise the quince will be cooked too soon and turn into a mash. After a few tests I came up with this formula.

Quince Poached in Sugar Syrup / Ayva Tatlısı

You may choose any spice or flavoring you prefer to boost the sugar syrup: I like the warming taste of clove and piney notes of mastic. Serve with a dollop of clotted cream as we do here (or heavy whipped cream, or vanilla ice-cream - the creamier the better): richness of the cream goes perfectly with the soft candy texture of the cooked quince.

Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 2 h
Total time: 2 h 5 min

Ingredients

2 medium size quinces
200 g granulated sugar
2.5 cups water
1.5 tbsp lemon juice
8 dried whole cloves
2 granules mastic (Arabic gum), ground (optional)
clotted cream or vanilla ice-cream, for serving
ground nuts of choice, for serving

Directions

Prepare quinces: Wash, peel (keep the peels) and halve the quinces lengthwise. Place on a cutting board with the cut facing up and holding each firmly carve out the core with the seeds leaving a hollow that would keep about 2-3 tsp liquid in: don’t cut through the bottom and don’t discard the seeds yet.

Pick up the right pan: Pick up a pan that would be wide enough for the 4 quinces halves. Place the quinces in the pan and add water, lemon juice, sugar and ground mastic (if using). If there is one single critical part of making the quince dessert it is this: the liquid must cover the quinces. In each quince’s hollow put two cloves. Add the quince seeds and skin peelings to the water.

Cook: Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to a minimum and let the quince gently simmer for two hours. Our purpose is a wonderful change of color into the gorgeous ruby. The first hour may seem to lead you nowhere: simply flip the quinces to the other side after one hour of cooking - now you can marvel the colored bottoms (now the tops) and start anticipating how the tops (well, bottoms now) will change the color too. In one hour turn off the heat and let the quinces cool. Serve them with some syrup, clotted cream and ground walnuts or pistachio. They can keep in the fridge up for a week. The candied peelings can be used for decoration when serving; I also like to store them in the fridge and add to my morning porridge or yogurt.