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Storing Quinces: That’s How Long They Keep

If you want to store quinces, you should consider a few things. Then you will have something of the versatile regional fruit for a long time if you do not process it directly.

The quince is an old native fruit that you can harvest well into November. The naturopath Hildegard von Bingen even considered it a local medicinal plant. Quinces have lost importance compared to other types of fruit – also because they are comparatively complex to process.

But this effort is worth it. The quince is making a real comeback at the moment. Especially for people who strive for self-sufficiency, it is a good source of vitamins and a refreshing change from typical autumn fruits such as apples. The organic quince farmer Marius Wittur says in an interview that he appreciates the diverse flavors of the fruit, which range from “pomegranate to kiwi to citrus fruits”.

If you store quince properly, you can enjoy the fruit well into winter. In this article you will learn everything about storing quinces.

Storing quinces: when does it make sense?

Quinces are very suitable for jam or jelly as the fruit naturally contains pectin. Pectin ensures that the quince jam does not remain liquid, but gels. If you process your quinces into jam immediately after harvesting, for example, you no longer have to worry about storing them.

There are two possible reasons you might want to store your quinces:

You don’t want or can’t process them right after harvest.
You have a variety of quince that is edible raw and want to have some of the unprocessed fruit for a long time.

Store quinces or process them directly: tips for harvesting

When it comes to quinces, there is no single best time to harvest. Depending on the variety and the weather of the year, the harvest can extend from September to November. However, the most important factor in determining when to harvest is what you plan to do with the quinces.

1. Process quinces directly

If you want to process them directly, you should first let the quinces ripen on the tree and process them immediately after picking. When fully ripe, quinces only keep for a week or two. When harvesting, you should consider the following points:

Fully ripe quinces are golden yellow in color and no longer have soft down.
When your quinces have a very strong, spicy smell, they’re ready to harvest.
They can easily be twisted off the tree.
Cut open a fruit and look at the pips. Quinces are ripe when the pits have turned brown.
However, it is also important that you do not leave the quinces on the tree for too long: it is best to harvest them before the first longer frosts and before they develop brown spots.
Tip: Typical uses of quinces are jam, jelly or quince bread. Quince juice, quince chutney or quince cake are also delicious. In hearty stews, quinces provide sweet-sour notes and exciting aromas.

2. Store quinces

Would you like to store your quinces and not process them immediately? Then you have to consider these points during the harvest:

Harvest quinces before they are fully mature.
It is best to harvest at the point where the color changes from green to yellow.
The fruits slowly begin to lose their fluff. It can still be felt in some places.
Be careful not to bruise your quinces, so harvest them carefully. Bruises could later become rotten spots and significantly reduce storage time.
However, you should not harvest the quinces too early, as they will then not be able to develop their full aroma.
Some quince varieties are better suited to storage than others. For example, the “Franconian house quince” lasts a few months in storage. The “Portuguese pear quince”, on the other hand, should be used up quickly.

Storing quinces: how to keep them for a long time

If you harvest your quinces at the transition point from unripe to ripe, they will keep for another two to three months if stored correctly. An old storage cellar normally meets the necessary criteria – it just must not be damp. More modern cellars are usually too warm. This is the best way to store quinces:

Place the fruit in a single layer next to each other in boxes or boxes.
Wood shavings or newspaper are suitable as a base.
The temperature should be below ten degrees Celsius, zero to two degrees Celsius would be optimal.
It is important that the store is frost-free.
Only undamaged quinces are suitable for storage. If they are already eaten, have a slight bruise or something similar, then it is better to process them directly.
Do not store the fruit with other fruit. They quickly transfer their strong smell to other strains.
In particular, you should not store apples and quinces together. Apples give off the plant hormone ethylene, which accelerates the ripening process.
You should also heed these tips:

Check your stored quinces about once a week and sort out any rotten specimens.
Are very icy nights ahead and you are afraid that your fruit might break? Then protect them from freezing, for example with woolen blankets.
If the storage time is very advanced, your quinces may turn brown on the inside. Now you should process them as quickly as possible.

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Cooking Tips

Cooking Asparagus: This is How Long Green and White Asparagus Take

If you want to cook asparagus, you should read this guide. You have to cook asparagus gently and over low heat. Here you can find out what else you need to know about white and green asparagus.

If you want to cook asparagus, you should know the following: White and green asparagus differ not only in appearance, but also in harvesting and cooking time. White asparagus grows underground, green asparagus above ground, and the latter therefore cooks much faster than white asparagus.

Cooking white asparagus: Cooking time and cooking test

Here’s what you need to cook white asparagus for two:

1 kg of white asparagus spears
2 tsp salt
1 tsp butter or vegan margarine
1 pinch of sugar
optional: 1 slice of organic lemon
How to cook white asparagus:

Peel the asparagus first. Because even if you cook the skin of the white asparagus longer, it will not become soft.
Place the asparagus spears in a large pot or pan of boiling water. It is important that the poles are completely covered with water.
Add salt, sugar and butter or margarine. The sugar softens possible bitter substances. You can also add a slice of organic lemon. This provides a slightly fresher taste and makes the white asparagus shine.
Briefly boil the asparagus and then let it cook over low heat. How long depends on the thickness of the asparagus spears. A rule of thumb:
Grade I: cook for 10 to 15 minutes
Grade II: cook for 8 to 10 minutes
Cooking test: If you lift the asparagus spears with a fork, they will bend downwards. Depending on whether you want the asparagus to be soft or al dente, they should bend more or less. If you want to be absolutely sure, you can pierce the ends of the asparagus spears with a knife – the asparagus tastes best when it is soft and yet has resistance.

Tip: Asparagus works particularly well in an asparagus pot. Place the asparagus spears upright so you can cook them standing up. However, this does not change the cooking time. You can prepare the white asparagus particularly gently in the steamer. At 100 degrees Celsius, the asparagus spears also need between ten and 15 minutes.

Boil or fry green asparagus

To peel green asparagus you only have to remove the outer layer in the lower third. The shell in the upper area is very soft.

How to cook green asparagus:

Add two teaspoons of salt, a pinch of sugar and a slice of organic lemon to the cooking water and let the asparagus spears cook over low heat.
Green asparagus is ready after just six to eight minutes. If you have very thin sticks, they can be cooked after five minutes.
Never cook green asparagus in water for too long. Otherwise the asparagus head will quickly become mushy.
You can also find out whether the asparagus are ready with the green asparagus with the fork test or by piercing them (see white asparagus).
Fry green asparagus:

Put some oil or butter in a pan.
Fry the asparagus spears or asparagus pieces over high heat for about five minutes.
Turn them regularly.
Then season them with salt and white pepper.

Recipe tip: Make a soup from asparagus broth

When the asparagus is done, the asparagus water remains. You can use this to cook a delicious asparagus soup instead of pouring the broth away. You need the following ingredients per liter of asparagus water:

200 ml organic cream or vegetable cream substitute,
2 tbsp butter or margarine
2 tablespoons organic flour,
some salt, pepper and fresh chives.
Preparation:

Put the butter or margarine in a saucepan and heat it up.
Put some flour in the saucepan and mix it with the melted butter to make a roux.
Mix the finished roux with the asparagus water and the cream.
Thicken the soup with some flour dissolved in water if it is too runny for you.
Then all you have to do is boil them up and season with salt and pepper.

Shopping tips for asparagus

Even if the first asparagus is often available in the supermarkets in March, the asparagus season in Germany does not start until mid-April. Bad weather can also delay the harvest time for asparagus cultivation by up to eight weeks.

The asparagus in March, on the other hand, comes from heated fields that are often covered with plastic sheeting. High energy consumption and unnecessary plastic make asparagus a small environmental sin. Imported asparagus is also not recommended, since the long transport routes lead to high CO2 emissions.

If you want to cook asparagus, it is best to buy it from the region and if possible in organic quality. This is how you can be sure that the asparagus is free of chemical-synthetic pesticides.

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Food

Baking Soda Expired? That’s How Long the Most Important Baking Ingredients Really Have a Shelf Life

Expired baking soda is nothing to worry about because, like some other baking ingredients, you can use it past its sell-by date.

Baking powder expired: what to do?

If your baking powder has expired – according to the best-before date – you can still use it. After all, this date is only a recommendation. As long as food has a shelf life, you should use it. In this way you save garbage and counteract food waste.

Unsealed, dry foods such as baking powder can be kept almost indefinitely. So you can still use it months after the expiry date. However, once you open the packaging of the baking soda, its effects wear off after about a month.

For food of any kind, you can trust your senses. Take a close look at the respective product, smell it or try it. If nothing strikes you as odd, you can eat it. Anything that’s moldy goes in the trash.

Other baking ingredients: This is how long they can be kept

You can use your expired baking powder even after the best-before date has passed. The same applies to other baking ingredients. An overview:

Dry baking ingredients: Flour, baking powder, (vanilla) sugar and other dry baking ingredients can have a much longer shelf life than the best before date. However, one can distinguish again at this point:
Sugar can’t go bad. This is also the reason why it is often used to preserve foods such as jam.
In the case of flour and baking powder, on the other hand, the shelf life depends on the humidity as well as storage and packaging. Also, whole grains spoil faster because of their fat content.
Fresh baking ingredients: Fresh animal foods, such as eggs, are very delicate. Therefore, you should consume or process them as soon as possible. After the best before date has passed, it is advisable to heat the egg through. One method of finding out whether your raw egg is still good is an egg test: you put the egg in a glass of water. If the egg stays on the surface of the water, it is spoiled. You should also consume butter and milk in a timely manner. Tip: Animal baking ingredients often have a shorter shelf life than their plant-based alternatives. So feel free to use vegan margarine, aquafaba as an egg white substitute, and plant drinks as a milk substitute so that you can bake something with it for longer.


Nuts and Almonds: Whole nuts keep longer than grated ones. It is always advisable to smell the nuts and almonds and taste them if necessary. That way you can tell if they’re still good or not.
Chocolate and couverture: Dry and dark storage is important so that both chocolate and couverture last as long as possible. If you open the pack, it can be kept for another ten months, or up to 15 months for dark chocolate.
Spices: Spices should be treated in the same way as nuts and almonds, because whole spices such as cloves, cinnamon sticks or star anise have a longer shelf life than ground spices. Once you open the package of ground spices, you should use them within 6 months. Unopened, they will keep for about three years.

Tip: You can also freeze most fresh baking ingredients, vegan or not, to extend their shelf life.

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Food

Boiling Eggs: That’s How Long the Hard and Soft Egg Takes

Boiling eggs could be so easy. But it’s not – sometimes it’s too soft, sometimes too hard, sometimes it bursts when cooking. Find out here how long it takes to cook the perfect egg.

It doesn’t matter whether you prefer a hard-boiled or a soft-boiled egg for breakfast – it is important to buy organic eggs to save the chickens unnecessary suffering. When you boil your egg, there are only two things you need to keep in mind to get the result you want: the size of the egg and the cooking time.

Soft or hard-boiled eggs: rule of thumb for cooking eggs

Before you get started, you should check the size of your egg. The cooking time varies depending on the size. There are the egg sizes S, M, L, and XL – they are noted on the egg carton.

Basically, you cook the eggs like this: just put them in boiling water and rinse them with cold water after the cooking time. For M eggs one can roughly say:

Four minutes: The egg white is set, but the yolk is still very runny – a perfect breakfast egg.
Seven minutes: the yolk is soft as wax – now you have a snack egg.
Eleven minutes: The yolk is hard and cutable – a typical hard-boiled egg.
If you are using S eggs you will need to cook them about 30 seconds less, for L eggs 30 seconds more.

Cooking eggs: It depends on the temperature

It would be nice if you could simply specify a number of minutes after which an egg is hard- or soft-boiled. But it’s not really about the cooking time, but about the temperature that the inside of the egg has to reach for the respective texture. And the “internal temperature” depends on three factors:

The size of the eggs – an XL egg takes longer to hatch than an S egg.
The temperature of the eggs – did you just get them out of the fridge or have they been out for a while? They take up to a minute longer from the fridge.
The temperature of the cooking water – most of us cook the eggs in bubbling boiling water. It’s about 100 degrees warm by the sea, but only 90 degrees on the Zugspitze. The higher your location, the longer the egg has to cook.
In fact, the egg white becomes solid at 62 degrees. The yolk is already no longer liquid at 63 degrees – so a solid egg white with a liquid yolk is not so easy to find! At around 66 degrees Celsius, the egg yolk is soft as wax, and at 70 degrees it is hard and cut-resistant.

For example, if you want a perfect egg, you could cook the egg at 66 degrees for hours and still end up with a waxy egg. However, most kitchen appliances are not that accurate in practice.

Cooking eggs

Are you unsure if your egg is still good? Then don’t just throw it away, but find out with the egg test. Because many eggs have a longer shelf life than the best-before date promises.

Eating fewer eggs overall is even better. You can also use vegan egg substitutes for many recipes – just give it a try!

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Food

Sour Cream: That’s How Long It Lasts

Sour cream is used in the kitchen for cooking and baking. But how long does it keep, how do you store it correctly and is there a vegan alternative? You can find out here.

Perhaps you have already used sour cream for cooking or baking. But do you actually know what the difference is between sour cream, crème fraîche, and sour cream?

All three products are acidified milk products and are made from cream. The only difference is in the fat content: sour cream contains at least 10 percent, sour cream 24 to 28 percent, and crème fraîche at least 30 percent fat.

This is how you store sour cream correctly

You may have noticed that there are two different types of sour cream. You can find one type in the refrigerated section, the other type in the normal range in the supermarket. As with many other milk products, the sour cream that is not in the refrigerated section is ultra-high temperature. This makes it last longer. Depending on whether you buy the sour cream chilled or not, you should store it at home accordingly.

Your fridge has different temperatures in different sections. If you know where it is best to store which food, you extend the shelf life.

The lower boxes in your fridge are suitable for fruit and vegetables and are around six to nine degrees Celsius. The compartments above increase with height: the lowest compartment is two to three degrees Celsius, the middle one is about five degrees Celsius and the top one is about eight degrees Celsius.
You should store sour cream (like other milk products) in the middle range at four to five degrees Celsius. Incidentally, you should not store open, sensitive products (such as open sour cream) in the refrigerator door, as the room temperature can have the greatest effect there when opening.

How long does sour cream keep?

As with most products in the supermarket, you will also find a best-before date (MHD) on the sour cream packaging. Many use this date as a guide and throw away everything that is after the specified date. But most of the products are also edible and healthy. The same applies to Schmand.

Before you throw a pack of sour cream in the trash, open it and go through three steps: look, smell and taste. Then you can judge whether you can eat the sour cream without any problems or rather dispose of it. A study by Greenpeace magazine found that some products were still edible more than half a year after the best-before date. So it’s worth taking a closer look.

Unopened, sour cream can still be enjoyed months after the best-before date. If you have already opened the package, the sour cream can be kept for a few days afterwards. If you seal the cup airtight again (for example with a lid or a beeswax cloth), the sour cream can be good for even longer. If you see mold or blisters forming on the sour cream and a musty, alcoholic smell coming your way, you should dispose of the sour cream.

Are there alternatives to sour cream?

Classic alternatives to sour cream are crème fraîche, sour cream or cream cheese. Depending on what you want to cook or bake, you can also use one of these products. For example, if you have cream cheese in the fridge that needs to go, you could use that instead of buying new sour cream. This is how you prevent food waste.

However, you should make sure that the fat content of your product fits your project. For example, you shouldn’t put a sour milk product with a fat content below 28 percent in a boiling liquid, or it will flocculate. For products based on milk, we recommend paying attention to organic quality and regionality. In this way you avoid chemical-synthetic pesticides in cow feed, prophylactic antibiotics in the animals and long transport routes with high CO2 emissions.

So far, vegan sour cream alternatives are not directly available in the supermarket. However, there are some vegan alternatives that lean towards crème fraîche, sour cream, or cream cheese. from dr Oetker, for example, has the soy-based cream VEGA, which is intended to replace crème fraîche. You can use them for cooking or baking. Vegan cream alternatives are Rama’s lentil-based cooking cream or Alpro’s soy-based cooking creams. Coconut milk or plant-based cream are always good vegan cream alternatives. Vegan cream cheese is now often available as a private label from various supermarkets.

For cold dishes, soy yoghurt is also a good vegan sour cream substitute. But you shouldn’t heat it up, otherwise it will flake. A squeeze of lemon juice gives you the tart taste that sour cream usually has.

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