Quince Cheese

Pâté de coing (la cotognata in Italian) is a lovely, old-fashioned French delicacy made by boiling quinces, the very last of the autumn fruits, and then leaving them to set into a sticky, sweet, thick jelly. In France (and Italy), it is one of the great traditional sweetmeats of the autumn. My Nonna always loved it: she also used ripe quinces to scent her linen cupboard and often had a bowl of the fragrant fruit sitting on a table to fill the house with their delicate perfume.