Making lots of preserves lately.* Maybe I will even make enough that I will feel securely supplied and able to give some away come holiday time. Maybe. In the meantime, while all those lovely homemade jars mature, I've been enjoying the sublime quince preserves pictured above. They are Greek (as you can maybe almost see on the jar) and feature matchsticks of fruit with much the texture of the citrus rind in a nice thick-cut marmelade.

I always forget how wonderful quince tastes. Not only does cooking it with sugar give it a gorgeous rosy color, it also reveals the fabulous quince flavor, which I find suggests very strongly that someone has added any number of mysterious spices to the mix. But they have not; it's just the magic of quince. Now if I could find a flat of quinces and make my own quince jam, I'd feel like a real magician. On the other hand, having found this stuff, what's the need? The jars are enormous, too.

*So far, in addition to the fig preserves I've told you about: red plums with Gerwertztraminer, Italian prune plums with pinot noir, and yellow watermelon (!). More to follow, too, including probably another melon variety. Melons make good preserves!