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Dessert

Preserved Quinces

A method of preserving quinces in sugar syrup.

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

Preserved Quinces

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fruit

  1. Pare, quarter, and core the quinces, saving the skins and cores.

  2. Place the quinces in a pot and add enough water to cover them.

Cook and make the syrup

  1. Simmer until tender, but do not let them break.

  2. Remove the quinces and spread them on dishes to cool.

  3. Return the skins and cores to the pot and cook for one hour.

  4. Strain the liquid through a jelly bag.

  5. For each pint of liquid, add one pound of sugar.

  6. Boil the mixture and skim off any foam.

  7. Add the quinces and boil for fifteen minutes.

Rest, reduce and pack

  1. Remove from heat and let it sit in a deep dish for twenty-four hours.

  2. Drain off the syrup and bring it to a boil again.

  3. Add the quinces and boil for another fifteen minutes.

  4. Remove the quinces and spread them on dishes to cool.

  5. Boil the syrup until thick.

  6. Place the quinces in jars until two-thirds full, then cover with syrup.

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.

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
Provide the fruit and natural pectin that helps the syrup thicken and set.
Sugar
Preserves the fruit and thickens the syrup, adding sweetness and body.

The step that matters

Simmer until tender, but do not let them break. Quinces need long cooking to soften from their firm, astringent state, but overcooked fruit falls apart and turns mushy, so the pieces must be checked as they cook and removed once tender.

“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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