Japanese foods--kudamono

[Peter Green]

Scud and I just checked out the article.

To quote Scud:

"The Japanese have wayyyyyy too much time on their hands"

[prasantrin]

Can I use Japanese quinces to make membrillo? I think Helen mentioned in one of blogs once that karin were different from western quinces in some way, so they couldn't be used to make the same kinds of things.

We have one or two karin trees at work, and I'd love to make some membrillo for my mother before she arrives in December. If I can't make membrillo, is there anything tasty that's non-alcoholic that I can make with them?

[helenjp]

This is a tangled web in both English and Japanese, but as far as I know:

What's called "marumero" (marmelo) in Japanese is the Persian (European) quince, Cydonia oblonga. (Sometimes it's called "something else oblonga", but same thing). That's what membrillo is made from, and is much less harsh-tasting. The fruit is slightly fuzzy, and bumpy. Even Japanese people regularly confuse them and call both marmelo and karin, "karin". Photos of marmelo flowers and fruit

What's called "karin" in Japanese is Chaenomeles sinensis (sometimes Pseudocydonia sinensis, "Chinese quince", "flowering quince"）. These tend to be much sourer and more acrid than the true quince. The skin of the fruit is smooth, and the fruit are more regularly shaped than the true quince. Wikipedia "karin" entry

Chaenomeles speciosa, "boke" in Japanese. My grandmother had a plant she called "japonica", and made a beautiful red jelly from it, as it has a lot of pectin - but whether she should have called it C. speciosa, or a C. speciosa cross, or C. superba, or C. lagenaria, or C. laganaria...who knows. It has thorns, usually red flowers (sometimes orange or white, but sturdy round petals and not like the elegant pale pink flowers of true or flowering quince), and is smaller than "karin". This blog talks about jam from "flowering quince" but the plant shown looks like some type of boke.

Non-alcoholic recipes for Karin Syrups

Karin honey extract recipe in Japanese - clean but don't peel karin, quarter karin and remove and reserve seeds, slice karin into a clean jar, put seeds into one of those big teabags used for mugicha (although since you're going to strain it later, why sweat...) and add to jar, cover with liquid honey and set aside for 1-2 months, stirring occasionally to make sure all fruit spends some time in the honey instead of floating on top. Strain out fruit and seeds, bring honey to the boil once to prevent fermentation, and store. Don't worry if honey crystallizes during storage. Add hot water and drink, especially good for sore throats.

Local greengrocer tells me it's a good idea to add a bit of shochu or white liquor when making these, to avoid fermentation and improve extraction.

Use roughly equal weights of honey and karin, though you may need up more honey to cover (up to 2 parts honey: 1 part karin is fine). Add about a 1/4 cup of shochu per jar, more if you wish.

Karin Syrup (much like Ume Syrup)

1 kilo of karin, 1 kilo of rock sugar, 1/2 to 1 cup good mild vinegar or white liquor

Layer fruit and sugar in a clean jar, pour over vinegar or spirits, leave about 1 month until sugar has melted and liquid risen. Strain and bring to boil once if you want to store it for a while. Dilute with hot or cold water to drink.

Jam or Membrillo from Flowering Quince Fruits

I have made a batch of extremely acrid/acidic jam from this fruit in the past, and if at all possible, I would use marmelo fruits for the following recipes. I think you would always get a stronger tang from flowering quince fruits than from marmelo. However, if you want to use them for candy, jam, or membrillo, leave them till they are dead ripe, on or off the tree (doesn't even matter if they get a few brown spots, you can always cut them off - this is true for boke fruit as well, but ten times MORE true for karin fruit).

Karin Jam - Japanese recipe Even the author comments that some "shibumi" or mouth-shriveling bitterness remains.

Clear Jelly

(This is my bet for avoiding bitter aftertaste - membrillo is likely to be the bitterest, as it contains the minced fruit in a concentrated form)

1 kg karin fruit, or boke if you can get it

350g sugar (any more and the jelly turns darker)

water

Clean but don't peel fruit, quarter and remove seeds, slice neatly.

Tip into pan, barely cover with water, simmer 20-30 mins (make sure fruit is well cooked, I think).

Put a colander with a clean cloth (sterilize in a pan of boiling water) in it over a pan, tip fruit in and allow juice to drain naturally - don't press, or the jelly will become cloudy. If you are my grandmother reborn, turn a stool upside down and tie a cloth by its corners to each leg, with a bowl underneath it, and strain fruit through that, to avoid any taint of metal. Reserve fruit for next recipe.

Add sugar to juice in pan, and boil till foamy and at setting point. (Stick a saucer in the fridge when you start cooking, when the foam has got past the roughest stage and has "eyes" in it, drip a little onto the cold saucer and tip - if it wrinkles slightly on top, it will slet. Alternatively, when you hold up a spoon from the liquid and it forms 3 drips along the side which slowly run together before dripping off, the jelly is at setting point.)

Jam from reserved fruit

Take the reserved fruit (around 600g), trim off the peels, put in a food processor with a little water. Tip into a pan with 500g sugar and simmerl, stirring well, till the color is a rich rose-pink, and pot.

Despite the dire warnings about sugar proportions in the previous recipe, another recipe gives these proportions for karin jelly, 1 part by weight fruit, 2 parts by weight or volume water, 1.5 parts by weight sugar. Recommended sugar for really clear jelly is a coarse, crystalline sugar like "granule" or "white zarame".

The first recipe says that if you include seeds, the jelly won't set well, but that has not been my experience, and the second recipe suggests that after you trim any bad parts out of the fruit, you simply chop it up, peel, fruit, and seeds all together - if you don't want to use the fruit for jam or paste.

P.S. Rona, in my area the karin are still green on the trees, and the green grocer was shocked! Just shocked! that I would even ask about karin when it's still October - so it might be good to wait till the fruit on your tree are a nice buttery gold color before you make your move.

[haresfur]

Do people in Japan cook with nashi? I have most of a case of asian pears in my refrigerator - a coworker grows them but I haven't had too good luck cooking or baking with them. I'd be interested in learning whether these are typically only eaten raw or if there are some ideas for me to try. Thanks!

[SheenaGreena]

OMG I WANT ALL OF YOUR PEARS ON THE RIGHT

sorry, I really like asian pears. They are too expensive for me to buy so I just wait till I visit my parents cause my mom always buys a box just for me (:

[haresfur]

OMG I WANT ALL OF YOUR PEARS ON THE RIGHT

Yes, I would have bought a whole box of the hosui but I agreed to split a box with someone else.

I think the box cost $17 US or maybe $14.

Edited October 28, 2007 by haresfur (log)

[torakris]

Do people in Japan cook with nashi?  I have most of a case  of asian pears in my refrigerator - a coworker grows them but I haven't had too good luck cooking or baking with them.  I'd be interested in learning whether these are typically only eaten raw or if there are some ideas for me to try.  Thanks!

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Unfortunately they really don't take well to cooking. The only recipes I have ever seen for them are for poaching, like this one or this one.

It was us much but I often grate them for uses in marinades, like this one.

I would start passing them around to other people if you really can't eat them all... Maybe you will get something good in return.

[helenjp]

Whew, I was waiting for somebody else to say that first! Some people seem to be happy with using Asian pears for baking, but I've found they tend to get flabby rather than soft, they turn slightly gray, and they lose their flavor.

On the other hand, that mild, juicy, crunchiness makes them great in salads or cold soups - lots of good Korean recipes, if you care to ask on the "elsewhere in Asia" forum. (My recipes are Japanese-Korean!).

[rykomatsu]

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that's like...$100 in pears in CA...4 asian pears are about $5 in the major grocery stores last i checked...I prefer finishing the evening with one vs a cake or wagashi or what not. Very light and crisp...delicate and the taste doesn't linger heavily after eating /envious

[SheenaGreena]

4 asian pears cost $5? whoa, over here they cost like $5/pear

there are a lot of good korean recipes out there that use the pear, but they involve using it uncooked and its more of a garnish. So the pear wouldn't really shine through as much as you might want it to. If you want some dishes that use it then you should post on the elsewhere in asia forum.

or you could just mail me a box of pears (:

[milgwimper]

Do people in Japan cook with nashi?  I have most of a case  of asian pears in my refrigerator - a coworker grows them but I haven't had too good luck cooking or baking with them.  I'd be interested in learning whether these are typically only eaten raw or if there are some ideas for me to try.  Thanks!

←

I have a korean recipe for poached Korean pears with black peppercorns if you are interested I will pm the recipe.

I haven't really seen many cooked asian pear recipes. I have seen and tasted Korean pear kimchi.

[milgwimper]

I envy everyone who can get sweet mikan. I can't seem to find any yet here in Germany, and my mouth is tired of the really sour ones I seem to be picking. Ahhh well back to the grocery store to buy another one and hope!

[prasantrin]

This is a tangled web in both English and Japanese, but as far as I know:

What's called "marumero" (marmelo) in Japanese is the Persian (European) quince, Cydonia oblonga. (Sometimes it's called "something else oblonga", but same thing). That's what membrillo is made from, and is much less harsh-tasting. The fruit is slightly fuzzy, and bumpy. Even Japanese people regularly confuse them and call both marmelo and karin, "karin". Photos of marmelo flowers and fruit

What's called "karin" in Japanese is Chaenomeles sinensis (sometimes Pseudocydonia sinensis, "Chinese quince", "flowering quince"）. These tend to be much sourer and more acrid than the true quince. The skin of the fruit is smooth, and the fruit are more regularly shaped than the true quince. flowering quince or karin fruit about half way down page

. . .

P.S. Rona, in my area the karin are still green on the trees, and the green grocer was shocked! Just shocked! that I would even ask about karin when it's still October - so it might be good to wait till the fruit on your tree are a nice buttery gold color before you make your move.

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So, if I understand correctly, these fruit:

are marmelo or Persian quince, and

these fruit:

are karin. I couldn't see the pics in the karin link, though. I think the link is broken.

Is that right? The first fruit pictured are quite large--almost like grapefruits. I couldn't get close enough to take a good picture (too many mosquitos around!).

The second fruit are small, like medium or large-sized mikan.

I'm hoping I'm wrong, though, and that the first picture is karin, and the second is marmelo, because there are two of the latter tree (full of fruit--and one tree has a lot of ripe fruit already), and only one of the former (with only those two still green fruit).

[JasonTrue]

Because I got a surplus of free nashi about a year ago from an orchard north of Seattle, I discovered nashi-oroshi, basically grated nashi in the style of daikon. Topped with a little ginger, it works in many applications for which daikon-oroshi would work. Here, I had it for hiyayakko with some grated ginger:

Nashi no hiyayakko

I think mul kimchi is good with the addition of some nashi.

Probably I would lean toward pickling if I had too many nashi again. Or just pureed into a sorbet. Perhaps infused into vodka.

I have a korean recipe for poached Korean pears with black peppercorns if you are interested I will pm the recipe.

I haven't really seen many cooked asian pear recipes. I have seen and tasted Korean pear kimchi.

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[helenjp]

Rona, I #think* neither of those are marmelo - too round, and not fuzzy?!

The second one...hmmm...maybe karin, but are there spines on the branches? I couldn't say why the fruit seem small - but from memory, boke fruit are smaller than karin, so it the tree has spines, it might be "boke", which is less harsh-tasting than karin - go straight for the "jelly" option!

Jason, nashi-oroshi sounds great. I don't see recipes for nashi-shochu, which makes me wonder if the aroma is too faint or volatile, but single-serve shochu is great for small experiments like this! Nashi seemed to be very expensive this year.

[prasantrin]

Rona, I #think* neither of those are marmelo  - too round, and not fuzzy?!

The second one...hmmm...maybe karin, but are there spines on the branches? I couldn't say why the fruit seem small - but from memory, boke fruit are smaller than karin, so it the tree has spines, it might be "boke", which is less harsh-tasting than karin - go straight for the "jelly" option!

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You're right! Neither were marmelo, and all were karin. The first picture is karin, but a little different from usual karin. The two smaller ones were your average every day karin. I checked the trees again, and there were no spines on the second trees.

I found all this out from one of the science teachers (biology/botany), who as it turns out, was one of the designers of the garden (he also has a gardener's license). He said there is a marmelo tree in the garden, and I think I managed to find it. It had three large fruit that kind of looked like mangos from the angle at which I was standing. The fruits were quite high up, though, and I'm quite short, so I couldn't get a good look. I'm hoping they fall out of the tree soon, so I can snag them and make my membrillo (I'm really stuck on making membrillo rather than jelly or some other product). I've been told that said science teacher gets annoyed when people take fruits from the garden, though. He thinks fallen fruit should go to the animals, but hey! I'm an animal, too!

[helenjp]

Mango-shaped fruit - yes, you've found it!

And which animal does the science teacher think brought the marmelo to Japan in the first place?!

[helenjp]

Link to Sazji's Quince Liqueur post in another thread...just to corrupt you away from healthy ideas like membrillo!