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Quince Jelly

A preserved fruit jelly made from quinces, water, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Quince Jelly

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

  1. Rub the quinces with a cloth until smooth.

  2. Cut the quinces into small pieces.

  3. Pack the pieces tightly in a kettle.

  4. Pour cold water over the fruit until it reaches the level of the fruit.

  5. Boil until the quinces are very soft.

Drain the juice

  1. Make a three-cornered flannel bag.

  2. Pour the fruit into the bag.

  3. Hang the bag up to drain.

  4. Occasionally press on the top and sides to help the juice flow, but do not press hard enough to expel the pulp.

Make and set the jelly

  1. Add a pint of sugar to each pint of juice.

  2. Boil the mixture for fifteen minutes or until it reaches a jelly consistency.

  3. Pour the jelly into tumblers or bowls.

  4. Finish according to general directions.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Quince + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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 pectin and acid provide the natural setting power that turns the juice into jelly.
Sugar
Sugar helps the jelly set and gives it sweetness, and it balances the tartness of the fruit.

The step that matters

Pressing the bag. Pressing hard forces fine pulp through the flannel, which makes the jelly cloudy. Gentle pressing keeps the strained juice 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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