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 fruit
Quarter a peck of quinces without peeling or coring, removing any bad spots.
Cook the quinces in water until soft, in batches of one peck at a time.
Place the cooked fruit in a jelly bag and let it drain overnight.
Squeeze out all the juice from the bag and measure it.
Make the jelly
Cook the juice for about 15 minutes.
Add an equal amount of sugar to the juice and cook until a sample thickens when placed on ice.
Pour the jelly into tumblers and cover with melted paraffin 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
- Their natural pectin and acidity help the juice set into a firm jelly.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and, with the fruit's pectin and acid, helps the jelly set.
The step that matters
Cooking the juice with sugar until it sets. Pectin, acid and sugar must reach the right balance to gel. Too little cooking leaves the jelly runny, while overcooking can make it stiff or cause sugar to crystallise. The ice test shows whether the set is right before potting.
“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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