Challenge and Creativity!

Our friends Karen & Miles have 3 beautiful children with varying degrees of food allergies- soy, dairy, corn, eggs, nuts (including coconut), gluten - you get the picture. With Easter approaching -another candy holiday (It is 1st and foremost a sacred religious holiday for me as well as Karen & Miles but we live in the real world so for kids of all ages it is also a candy holiday) I decided I would get creative and try to come up with some tasty treats for the Dudgeon children to enjoy for Easter. I found the process fun! I didn't know how successful I would be until after Easter- when the reviews came in - I can report Sucess!! 

Part of the creative process was thinking of ways to package the treats- so they seemed "normal." They need wrappers and labels and names! They needed to be attractive to kids 2-8 years old.

They thanked me & loved them!

I made a snacking gluten free Granola with chocolate (all allergy free) and seeds as well as "candy" balls made from dried fruit, seeds, sunflower butter, cocoa powder & more!!

Quince?

 Who knows what Quince are?

These are quince fruit growing on a bush in our yard in Homer, New York. 

I have to admit that until a couple of years ago I only knew it as the word that rhymed with "mince" in the poem The Owl & the Pussycat by Edward Lear. As something to eat with a runcible spoon. 

 Quince is an ancient fruit that some assert was present in the Garden of Eden- a quince was the fruit that the serpent tempted Eve with. They grow in abundance in the Argentina, Morocco, Turkey, China, Iran, Serbia, Italy, Spain and more. It has been believed to have many medicinal properties. 

The fruit is hard & goes from green to yellow when fully ripe. It is not edible without cooking the white flesh which turns pink when heated. Quinces are wonderfully fragrant fruits, however they’re basically inedible raw and it can be difficult to know what to do with them.The easiest and tastiest thing to do with them is to make Quince Jelly. 

I have learned to make Quince Jelly by reading the blogs of others! Quince Jelly is a culinary delicacy! It has a taste that is hard to describe- with hints of pear and citrus! There are no commercial producers of Quince Jelly in the United States. If you are lucky someone who has a quince bush will make you a jar of Quince Jelly or you can buy some at a Farmers' Market. I sell Quince Jelly!