Q-ing for Food Trivia Quiz

Answer: Quetsch

Although quetsch is typically grown in Germany, the most popular name for this fruit is in a French dialect. The German name is zwetschge (plural zwetschgen) and would thus belong in the Z rayon.
The quetsch is a purplish or dark reddish type of plum, a little more pointed and less rounded than other plum types. The fruit is harvested in August-September.
Quetsch can be used in pies (for instance the quetschentaart) or as jam. Spiced quetsch preserve as made in Silesia (southwest Poland, on the border with Germany and the Czech Republic) is very dark, almost black in colour.
Part of the quetsch produce is left to ferment. After distillation, these will result in the quetsch brandy.
In the Christmas season, some markets in the German state of Bavaria present zwetschgenmännla or zwetschgenweibla: little cakes in the form of a man or a woman, with walnut head, dried figs for the body and limbs made out of quetsch.
One of the most intriguing recipes for quetsch I found was potato dumplings filled with quetsch, named zwetschgenknödel in German or szilvas gomboc in Hungarian. These are usually served for dessert.

Answer: Quamash

Quamashes are native to the west of Canada and the USA. The edible bulbs grow out to herbs which reach a height of 30 to 90 cm, with beautiful purple flowers. Alternative spellings are camas and camash.
When the flowers start to wither, it's time to harvest the bulbs. But take care if you go out to pick wild quamash: the purple flowers belong to edible bulbs, the white flowers belong to highly toxic plants with almost the same appearance.
Quamash bulbs can be boiled or pit-cooked. After preparation, they taste like sweet potatoes (only a bit sweeter). Wikipedia states the bulbs look quite like sweet potatoes, but checking out various images I found they look more like medium to large onions.

Answer: Quiche

The quiche is a recipe very popular in the region Alsace-Lorraine (French-German border). The very basic version is a sand dough filled with a mixture of eggs, cream and lardons. But various toppings can be used: meat such as ham or bacon, fish such as salmon, cheese, vegetables... One of my personal favourites is the quiche with salmon and broccoli. But I also found recipes with ratatouille; with lardons, dates and mozzarella; with pear and Roquefort; with chicken, tarragon and courgette; with crab meat; with ham and endives...
You have to heat a quiche in the oven at high temperature. Most packages include specific instructions for the type of quiche you bought, for some ingredients might need a higher temperature or a longer baking time.
One important remark: if you're buying prepared quiche, use them the same day or the day after, but never store them in the freezer. This would provoke the dough to become too wet.

Answer: Quahog

The common quahog or quahaug is an edible clam native to the North Atlantic Ocean. The scientific name is Mercenaria mercenaria, and it lives mostly on the Atlantic shores of North-America.
It is usually eaten raw (with cocktail sauce, horseradish and/or lemon) or steamed, or used in clam chowder.
There is also an ocean quahog (scientific name Arctica icelandica) which resembles the Mercenaria type quite closely, but is also found on the shores of Iceland, Ireland, England and Wales.

Answer: Quince

The quince grows on a tree (Cydonia oblonga) and is native to the south-western part of Asia. Turkey is the major producer and exporter of quinces. It is a close relative of apples and pears.
The tree reaches a height of 5 to 8 m, and the fruit is between 7 and 12 cm long by 6 to 9 cm across. Ripe quinces are pear-shaped and yellow-skinned, and they emit a strong perfume.
Quinces can be eaten raw, but the hardness and sourness and the strong bitter aftertaste makes this quite unpalatable. Most quinces are cooked with sugar and thus made into marmalade or similar products. Several recipes also suggest adding a small amount of quince to apple sauce to enhance the taste.

Answer: Quenelle

The original quenelle was made of a small serving of fish, packed with breadcrumb and/or egg white, and then shaped in an ovoid form. It was then poached and served to garnish haute-cuisine dishes.
Nowadays quenelles can be made of any type of food: quenelles of meat, fowl or fish, but also potato quenelles are sold to be served as an appetizer or to garnish soups and ragouts. Ice creams or sorbets can also be served in a quenelle shape.
The meat, fowl, fish or potato quenelles are usually poached or boiled, but the ice cream or sorbet quenelles are of course served without heating. 

Answer: Quinnat

Quinnat is a Pacific type of salmon, known under many different names. King's salmon and Chinook are probably better known than the quinnat synonym. When they swim in the ocean, they're greyish-black, but when they return to the rivers in order to spawn, their colour alters to blue-green, reddish-orange or purplish. Adult quinnats reach a length of 60 to 90 cm and a weight of 4 to 22 kg. Because of the habitat loss caused by dams and canalization, the wild quinnat has become a rare animal. Fortunately they can also breed in captivity, and New-Zealand has set up several aquaculture farms for the quinnat salmon. New-Zealand produces even more quinnat salmon in aquaculture than all countries together catch wild quinnat salmon.

Answer: Quinoa

Quinoa is a plant grown for its edible seeds, that resemble grains. The quinoa plant is indigenous to the Andes region, and was a staple food for the Inca civilization. The seeds mature in different rhythms, even on the same plant stem - thus harvesting mechanically is not recommended. Most quinoa is hand-picked. After the harvesting of the seeds, they are processed to get rid of the hard, bitter shells.
Quinoa is normally boiled in the same way as one would cook rice. It is gluten-free and easy to digest, and in 2013 it has been declared kosher for use at the Passover season.

Answer: Quorn

Quorn is in fact a trade name, but it has become so popular that the trade name may nowadays also be written without a capital letter and thus used as a generic noun.
Quorn is made by the fermentation of a certain fungus, in similar conditions as the preparation of beer yeast. After fermentation, the quorn is bound with egg white (or with potato protein for sale as a vegan product) and packed into the desired shape.
Quorn was invented in 1985 and first sold on the British market in 1993. In 2011, the producer also released a vegan version (so without any animal product used in the preparation). Fresh quorn looks like chicken filet or cubes of chicken, and the taste is similar. One can use it in a number of ways: fried in the pan, baked, stir-fried in a wok...

Answer: Quail

Quail is the name for more than a dozen species of pheasant-like birds (old world quails) and thirty-odd species of birds living in the Americas. The common quail was once a very popular fowl in the French cuisine, but has nowadays been replaced with the Japanese quail (which breeds easier in captivity). Now that I've done my shopping, let's go cooking. What about quail stuffed with quetsch served with quenelles of quinoa? Maybe a quiche with quahog, quinnat and quamash? Or should I stick to the quesadilla (Mexican recipe: toasted tortilla with cheese and beans) and serve it with quorn? I could also use quandongs (reddish peach-like fruits from Australia) or quarrendens (British red apples with strawberry flavour).