Turkish Quince Dessert Recipe!

on March 20, 2022

Quince Dessert with Pomegranate

Wonderful Quince Dessert with Pomegranate (Narlı Ayva Tatlısı)!

Quince is the very oldest fruit. Some people call quince as the "Goddess of Love" fruit. We love to consume this fruit as raw and we love its jam very much. Also, we cook (bake) and make a very unique dessert from this fruit. Its name is "Quince Dessert", (in Turkish: Ayva Tatlısı, its pronunciation: "eye - va, tat + lisi"). Generally the quince harvest in Turkey begins in September, and this fruit is available throughout the winter. Many our friends who live in Europe asked the "Quince Dessert's Recipe" from us in last week. According to them; quince season is around february in Europe. They said that "You can find them every where in abundance now and please send your delicious quince dessert's recipe to us". We sent our "Quince Dessert" to them and decided to share it with you in this post.

Quince dessert means happiness. If you are in search of a taste that may heat you up in winter cold times, this recipe is really ideal. It is barely bitter, but so unpalatable. We are sure that when you try this wonderful dessert in your kitchen, your household and you absolutely like it.

Turkish Quince Dessert

How to Make Quince Dessert with Pomegranate!

Fruit desserts are the most antique desserts. Most common fruit desserts are made with apples and pears. Quince Dessert, in Turkish "Ayva Tatlısı", is another delicious dessert that is simply made with seasonal quince fruit. On the other hand, our guess is that the quince dessert was invented by some clever women who ended up with stiff quince which was very difficult to eat and swallow as a fruit so they used them to make a dessert.

Actually, you can prepare a variety of dishes with quince, ranging from main dishes to side dishes, to desserts and jams. Our favorite is to consume it like a dessert. Ouince dessert is quite easy and delicious dessert. In this recipe you will find several tips; such as adding a spice in to the pot. Adding quince seeds will help to protect color, adding cinnamon will provide flavor, adding pomegranate seeds (or cherry juice or both of them) will also add color. You can fill the seed beds with an additional quince or apple grate or quince seeds. Adding a scoop of clotted cream (Turkish cream: Kaymak) will make it even more delicious. By the way, definitely skip Turkish cream if you are vegan.

During the autumn and winter months, most of the Turkish restaurants add this magnificent dessert to their menus because Turkish customers know it is quince season.

You may notice some of these desserts in Turkish restaurants serve in a variety of colors such as burgundy. It is because some of the chefs are using artificial food coloring while making them. But we are not fan of using artificial food coloring methods during cooking.

Instead of using artificial food coloring, we can use natural techniques to give color to our desserts. For example; In this recipe, we used quince seeds, pomegranate seeds and juice to help us to give some reddish color to the quince dessert. As you know that this fruit is a very hard fruit considering apple and peach fruits. For this reason, if you are going to use quince fruit in your desserts or dishes, you need to cook it longer than the other fruits so that it becomes soft and easy to get a fragrant taste.

Recipe for Quince Dessert with Pomegranate!

We hope that you will have a change to enjoy this light dessert with cup of strong coffee. We always consume this dessert with cup of strong Turkish coffee.

Here it is our Quince Dessert with Pomegranate's recipe;

Very good family favourite;

Serve: 10 servings, Preparation Time: 20 minutes, Cooking Time: 1 or 1,5 Hours, Cuisine: Mediterranean & Anatolian Cuisines, Calories:153 kcal,

Ingredients: 5-6 Normal size quince,

Ingredients : 1 Normal size pomegranate,
its seeds are used for filling,

Ingredients: 1/4 cup of pomegranate juice and water mixture,

Ingredients: 10 Tablespoons of granulated sugar,

Ingredients: 1 teaspoon cinnamon or cinnamon stick,
and 7-8 cloves for filling,

Ingredients: seeds of quince for filling,

Ingredients: Clotted cream for garnishing,

Ingredients: crushed walnuts and piece of half walnut
for each serving plate,

Ingredients: couple of seeds of pomegranate for garnishing,

Firstly wash and cut the quinces in half from top to bottom,

Then scoop out the core and keep the seeds,

Save the seeds aside and peel the skin of the
quince halves and set them aside too,

Meanwhile prepare the lemon juice and water mixture,

Then rub the peeled quince halves with this mixture,

Them spread the peels of quince as a layer in a heavy pan,

Then place the quince halves on top,
in a way that the hollow side faces upwards,

Then place the seeds of quince in the
center of each quince halves,

Then place the cloves in the center of each quince halves,

Meanwhile prepare your seeds of pomegranate for filling,

And prepare the pomegranate juice and water mixture,

Then place the seeds of pomegranate
in the center of each quince halves,

Then put a tablespoon of sugar over the each half of quince,

Then pour the pomegranate juice mixture to the pan,

And add a teaspoon of cinnamon in the pan
and close the lid,

Then bring the pan to boil then reduce the heat
to low and simmer gently for about 40 minutes,

Cook on low heat for another 40 minutes
or until the fruit is cooked,

You will now get a richer dark rosy pink color and
some caramelisation. Leave the cooked quinces cool in the pan,

Once your dessert cool, remove the cloves, seeds of quince and
pomegranate and place the quince halves on a serving plate,
with a dollop of clotted cream,

If you want, you can put on half piece of walnut
and couple of seeds of pomegranate over top
and sprinkle some crushed walnuts over,

Ingredients:

5-6 Normal size quince,
1 Normal size pomegranate, 1 or 2 tablespoons seeds of pomegranate for filling,
1/4 Cup of water and pomegranate juice mixture,
10 Tablespoons of granulated sugar,
1 Teaspoon cinnamon or 1 stick of cinnamon,
7-8 Cloves for filling,
Seeds of quinces for filling,

For garnish:

Clotted cream to serve (We used Turkish thick cream / Kaymak, but if you want, you can use ice-cream or whipped cream),
Crushed walnuts and a piece of half walnut for each serving plate,
Couple of seeds of pomegranate for topping,

Preparation:

First of all, put your all ingredients on the work table. Then, wash and cut the quinces in half, from top to bottom (also cut a thin slice at the bottom of each quince to make them become flat so they stand still in the pot). Scoop out the core and keep the seeds, save the seeds aside. Peel the skin of the quince halves and set them aside too. Rub the peeled quince halves with the lemon juice (or with the mixture of lemon juice and water); that will help quince not to go dark in color.
Then, spread the peels of quince as a layer in a heavy pan, wide enough to have 10 quince halves in one layer. Place the quince halves on top, in a way that the hollow side faces upwards. Then, place the seeds of quince, seeds of pomegranate and cloves evenly in the center of each quince halves.
Then, put a tablespoon of sugar over the each half of quince or spread the sugar evenly over the halves and then pour the water and pomegranate juice mixture to the pan and add a teaspoon of cinnamon or put cinnamon stick in the pan and close the lid. Then, bring the pan to a boil then reduce the heat to low and simmer gently for about 40 minutes. Your quinces will start turning to a rosy, darkish pink color and the syrup will start to thicken and caramelized. Stir in the ground cinnamon, cover and cook on low heat for another 40 minutes or until the fruit is cooked (you may need a little more or less cooking time depending on the size of the quince - when you insert a knife into the quince, if it goes all the way down easily, it means it is cooked), turn the heat off. You will now get a richer dark rosy pink color and some caramelisation.
Then, leave the cooked quinces cool in the pan. The syrup will thicken even more and the color will go darker, thanks to the seeds acting as a natural thickener. Once your dessert cool, remove the cloves, seeds of quince and pomegranate and place the quince halves on a serving plate, with a dollop of clotted cream (or even better, Turkish cream/kaymak, the thick cream of the water buffalos) over the top. Also, you can put an half piece of walnut and couple of seeds of pomegranate over top over top and sprinkle some crushed walnuts over and serve (This delicious quince dessert keeps well in the refrigerator for a good 3 days).

This delicious quince dessert keeps well in the
fridge for a good 3 days,

Enjoy!

Please let us know how this "Quince Dessert with Pomegranate (Narlı Ayva Tatlısı) Recipe" turns out for you in the comments. We are always so eager to hear from you.