Quince? I Think Not!

Last week, my Bountiful Basket contained about a half-dozen of these small yellow fruits. Someone there at the pick up location said they were quinces; but "they looked kinda funny." Armed with that information, I went home and did a search on google (what else?) Images of quinces showed a somewhat pear-shaped yellow fruit and recipes for jams and jellies. This left me in a bit of a quandry. Did I actually have quinces or did I have something else?

The only thing to do was to give jam-making a try, so try I did. What I got was a lovely syrup, but no way this stuff would stand up to the label of Jelly. Ah, well, nothing ventured nothing gained.

Imagine my chagrin at discovering yet more yellow mystery fruit in my Bountiful Basket this week! Only this time I think the person with the fruit identification skills was more accurate: Guava! So home I went, once more to google for a more positive ID; and there, before my eyes, a photo of fruit that looks just like my photo above (only not as pretty :-)

Yes, they are guavas. Mexican guavas to be precise. I'll be cooking with them tonight having already found a recipe I want to try. Will report results. 

Hot chiles make for hot photos

Visiting a friend yesterday, someone who is a lover of all things hot, I spotted the most beautiful bag of dried habanero chiles on the kitchen counter. For those of you who aren't familiar, these small round peppers are among the hottest on the planet. Even a small amount added to a recipe can create something so potent very few people can get beyond the heat to experience - let alone enjoy - their flavor. (Which is unique and wonderfully rich and complex when added to a recipe in minute amounts.) That being said, they were beautiful to look at. I tossed a few out on the black ceramic stove top and used ambient light from the kitchen window. The stove top did surprising things in the light. Here's my favorite photo.