Quince

Jeff pictured a beautiful quince apple pie on the What's Cooking thread. I had another nice crop of quince this year some of which I poached and the rest went into making quince paste ? membrillo in Spanish.
THe poached slices did not turn pink as expected and the flavor was quite subtle. Perhaps due to the particular variety I planted - Russian Kauching . The paste however did turn red with longer cooking but was still not a flavorful as the commercial ones I had in Spain.
I was undewhelmed by the quince apple pie- not distinct in taste or texture from the apples. The aroma, however was definitely different nad very very nice.
Jeff, what was your take on the quince adventure ?

I bought quinces at a grocery store. They were fully yellow though not as aromatic as some I have sniffed in the past.

They turned only the vaguest pink when cooked. I was surprised that it took a good 40 minutes of simmering to make them soft enough to THEN put in a pie and bake for 1.5 hours!

I am very happy with the outcome: The texture is very similar to that of baked apple though a bit firmer yet. The flavor, however, is the reason to keep it because it has a flowery nature instead of an acidic one. It sings in an uncommon register but it harmonizes. I would make this pie again.

On a related note... When I simmered the quince, the recipe further said to boil down the cooking liquid until it is a syrup and use some of that to flavor the pie. I did so, and I poured the rest into a little jar. Well, that syrup has completely solidified and turned raspberry-red! I think I made jelly. (The cooking liquid was a bottle of sweet white wine, 1/4 cup of sugar, and a vanilla bean.)

I make quince paste from time to time, when I find quinces in the market. It takes forever but I get there in the end! Oft times it seems during the first boiling process that they are never going to get past Pinkish but with the prolonged cooking required for the paste they get to that great deep ruby/garnet colour. EVENTUALLY.