Cranberry Sauce, Inspired by Quince
Tuesday, November 19, 2013 at 4:00AM 
By Ben Mims
For Cooking Newbie, a blog for beginner cooks
Every year at Thanksgiving, I’m an unashamed traditionalist. I love the turkey, the giblet gravy and the green bean casserole. And although I love cranberry sauce directly from the can, it’s the one aspect of the Thanksgiving table that I don’t mind breaking from tradition with.
This year, inspired by the plentiful quince trees in my neighborhood, I’m making a spiced cranberry sauce perfumed with the fragrant orchard fruit. Related to apples and pears, quince is my favorite fall and winter fruit, smelling of an intoxicating blend of rose, citrus and sour apple. Unlike apples and pears, however, they cannot be eaten raw; their concrete-like flesh needing heat to yield it soft and tender.