Quince Cream
Source: Mary Randolph, 1824
History
This recipe is Mary Randolph's "Quince Cream," from The Virginia House-Wife, first published in 1824 and considered the first regional American cookbook. The text we hold matches the widely reproduced 1860 printing digitized as Project Gutenberg ebook 12519, where Quince Cream appears among the book's creams. It directs the cook to wash ripe quinces and boil them whole until tender, let them drain and cool, rub them through a hair sieve, mix into the pulp "as much cochineal finely powdered, as will make it a pretty colour," then add an equal quantity of cream and sweeten it; pears or apples may be prepared the same way. The cochineal here is a coloring agent, not a flavor. Cochineal is a red dye derived from a scale insect (Dactylopius coccus), and within this same cookbook Randolph uses it routinely for color: she tints quince marmalade with "a little cochineal" and lists "Cochineal and alkanet root pounded and dissolved in brandy" among the colorings she recommends for blanc mange. In other words, coloring the pale quince pulp a "pretty colour" was, for this cook, an ordinary finishing step rather than a remarkable one. The book itself is a document of a Virginia household. Mary Randolph lived in Chesterfield County and, from 1798, in Richmond, Virginia. The majority of the labor in her kitchen was done by enslaved Black women, whose knowledge shaped the cookbook these recipes come from. The historical record I was able to open does not document any social-status, class, or wealth meaning for this specific dish, so none is asserted here.
Ingredients
- ripe quinces
- equal quantity to pulp cochineal powder
- equal quantity to pulp cream
- to taste sugar or sweetener
Instructions
- Wash the ripe quinces and boil them whole until quite tender. Let them stand to drain and cool. Rub them through a hair sieve to create a smooth pulp.
- Mix the pulp with cochineal finely powdered in an amount sufficient to give it a pretty color. Add an equal quantity of cream to the pulp and sweeten to taste.
- Note: Pears or apples may be prepared and used in the same manner.