- 500 ml water
- 250 g sugar
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 8 cardamom pods
- 2 oranges zested and juiced
- 4 quinces peeled, cored and cut into 2.5 cm / 1 inch thick wedges (see note below)
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In a saucepan, combine the sugar, cinnamon stick, cardamom pods, orange zest, orange juice and water. Place over medium-high heat and stir, until the sugar dissolves.
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Add the quinces and bring to a boil.
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Reduce the heat to a very low and simmer and cook until tender, 1 - 1½ hours.
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Let the quinces cool in the syrup.
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Lift the quinces from the syrup and place into a serving dish.
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Strain the syrup over the quinces and discard the cinnamon stick and cardamom pods.
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Serve cold with baked custard.
I make up the syrup before preparing the fruit. Quinces brown very quickly when peeled, so you can either place the prepared fruit into a bowl of water with some lemon juice added, or do as I do and have the syrup barely simmering and add the fruit directly into the pot.
You can use these quinces to top my orange syrup cake. You could add a tsp of cardamom powder to the cake batter when making the cake.