Why it works: Quince and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,444 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Quince Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the quinces
Wash the quinces and remove any defective parts.
Cut the quinces into pieces without peeling or coring them.
Place the quinces in a preserving kettle and add 1 pint of water.
Make the jelly
Boil until the quinces are soft, then strain the mixture through a fine sieve without mashing.
For every pint of juice, add 1 pound of loaf sugar and make a syrup.
Boil and skim the syrup until it thickens into jelly.
Jar and seal
Pour the jelly into glasses while warm, then cover with brandy paper and tie securely once cool.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Quince + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,444 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Quinces
- Provide the fruit flesh and natural pectin that set the jelly.
- Loaf sugar
- Sweetens the juice and helps the syrup thicken into a firm set.
- Water
- Softens the quinces so their juice can be extracted.
The step that matters
Straining without mashing. Pressing the cooked quinces forces cloudy particles through the sieve, which makes the finished jelly cloudy. Letting the juice drip through keeps it clear.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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