My son is incredibly sensitive (hypersensitive) to smells, tastes, touch, and visuals. How sensory inputs are processed vary from person to person. Over and under-sensitivity seems to appear with people with autism and the National Autistic Society (NAS) in the UK has some great content to explain these sensory differences.
Sensory sensitivity affects how food is experienced...and also makes it really tricky to introduce new foods. However, if someone has already enjoyed other similar foods this may give them confidence to try something new. In this case, some of Grandmother’s homemade, soft, naturally sweet preserved fruits such as peaches and apple were a nice prelude to quince.
Quince is a perfect example of how the senses can contribute to a happy eating experience.
Quince is an unusual fruit that smells amazing when it is ripe. And this beautiful smell is present during and after cooking. Quince also turns a lovely shade of peach-orange-pink when poached for a while.
The fruit draws you in with its strange looks. The quince is endearingly knobbly, has a misshapen pear look to it. Pick it up and smell it. It has a delicious smell. My son wandered around with one for a bit just enjoying the smell.
While it is cooking it smells great too. Floral and sweet. I used a simple recipe without the cinnamon from The Spruce as my son isn’t a fan of spice but I loved reading David Lebovitz’s page on poached quince.
The poaching turns it a pinkish/rose colour from its raw creamy colour! I did some research on the colour change and it is because of the anthocyanin molecule released during cooking which an article by Render Food explains really well. The somewhat magical chemical transformation also makes the food of interest to my wee scientist. And cooked quince is simply pretty which is appealing too.
After it has been poached for an hour or so the fruit goes from hard and rough to meltingly soft. This is a preferred texture for my son. No unexpected hard bits (I am very careful to ensure all the core and rough area next to it are removed!).
Such happiness when food is enjoyed and there is a little variation introduced into his diet - especially when it is a fruit or a vegetable! (Although I confess I do not have much luck with vegetables.)