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 Marmalade
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the pulp
Slice the quinces and add enough water to cover them.
Place on the fire to stew until reduced to a pulp, stirring occasionally to prevent burning.
Pass the pulp through a fine sieve to remove skin and seeds.
Make the marmalade
Weigh the pulp and add ½ lb of broken sugar for each lb of pulp.
Return the mixture to the fire and stir continuously with a wooden spoon until it thickens to a marmalade consistency.
To test, drop a little on a cold plate; if it jellies, it is done.
Jar and cover
Pour into jars while hot, let cool, and cover with oiled paper cut to fit the jar openings.
Optionally, cover with bladder or tissue paper brushed with egg white.
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
- Quince pulp
- Provides the fruit body and natural pectin that helps the marmalade set as it cooks.
- Loaf sugar
- Sweetens the fruit and, as it dissolves and concentrates, helps the mixture thicken and set.
The step that matters
Stirring while the sugar cooks down. Once sugar is added, the mixture is thick and can scorch on the bottom of the pan. Continuous stirring spreads the heat evenly and prevents burnt flavour, and the set is judged by the cold-plate test rather than time alone.
“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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