Authentic Ayva Tatlısı Recipe Turkiye, Asia
JUMP TO RECIPEWe strongly advise you to read the cooking tips before jumping to the recipe though
Introduction & history
Ayva tatlısı is a winter dessert from Turkey prepared by poaching quinces in sugar and water. Spices such as cloves and cinnamon are added to the sugar and water to enhance the flavor, and the pectin in the quince seeds serves as a thickener. The slow, lengthy cooking process transforms the hard and astringent quince into a soft and delicate ruby-colored dessert with a distinctive rosy scent. Once cooled, ayva tatlısı is served with a dollop of clotted cream or kaymak, and can also be dusted with a sprinkling of walnuts or pistachios.
Pair with
Serve With
Cooking tips
-
flavor
The main reason cloves are added is because they help the quinces achieve their signature color, but if looking for extra flavor, you can also add cinnamon, lemon, or orange peel, and even poach the quinces in sweet dessert wine. -
color
Given that it takes a long time for the quinces to develop their color, sometimes even up to six hours, many sweets makers use artificial coloring to achieve that signature ruby-red color and shorten the cooking time. You can recognize that the colorants have been used if the color of the quince is too bright, but when you slice the quince, the inside remains pale. -
method
There are two ways you can prepare this dessert; poaching the quinces and roasting them in the oven. -
when to eat
Since this is a seasonal winter dessert, due to the fact that quinces are a seasonal fruit, the best ayva tatlisi can be eaten from October to December. -
quince varieties
Not all quince varieties are hard and sour. Depending on which one you use, you need to adjust the cooking time, and the amount of sugar used — naturally, the harder and sourer the quince, the more sugar and cooking time it needs.
Recipe variations
Ayva Tatlisi
PREP 15min
COOK 1h 20min
RESTING 2h
READY IN 3h 35min
This is the traditional ayva tatlisi recipe. Even though the cooking time is not very long, the quinces are still able to develop their color due to the fact that they are cooked with quince peels and seeds.
Ingredients
2 medium-sized quinces
150g (3/4 cup) sugar, or 20 – 30g (2 tbsp) more, if you prefer sweeter
6 cloves
16 oz (480 ml) water
2 tbsp juice of lemon
2 tbsp ground cinnamon
thick Turkish cream kaymak, or clotted cream, to serve
crushed pistachio nuts or walnuts, to serve
Preparation
Cut the washed quinces in half and scoop out the core. Keep the quince seeds for later. Now peel the skin of the quinces and reserve that peeled skin as well. To prevent the quinces from going dark, rub them with lemon juice.
In a heavy pan, spread the quince peels in a layer to cover the bottom, then place the quince halves hollow side up on top — make sure you have a big enough pan to fit all the halves nicely. Spread sugar evenly over the quinces and add the quince seeds, cloves, and water.
Bring everything to a boil, cover with a lid, and set the heat to low. Let it simmer for 40 minutes, then turn the quinces over and add the ground cinnamon. Leave it to cook covered over low heat for another 40 minutes or until the quinces have cooked.
Turn off the heat and let the quinces cool in the pan. With cooling, the syrup will thicken more, and the color will also go darker.
Serve cooled on a plate with a scoop of clotted cream or kaymak (a thick Turkish cream) on top and sprinkle with crushed pistachios or walnuts.
Other authentic recipes
Rating And Comments
Rate It
Wanna try?
Add To List