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 ↓
Syrup of Quince
Ingredients
Directions
Combine fermented quince juice and sugar in a pot.
Boil the mixture, then filter it.
Reboil the filtered syrup until it reaches 36° Beaume.
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.
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
- Fermented quince juice
- Provides the main fruit flavor and liquid base that the sugar dissolves into.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and body, and concentrates the syrup as it reduces to the target density.
The step that matters
Reboiling to 36° Beaume. Beaume measures syrup density, so stopping too early leaves it thin and watery, while boiling too long makes it overly thick. Reaching the target reading means the sugar concentration is right for keeping and use.
“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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