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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 quinces

  1. Pare and core the quinces, removing any knotty or defective parts.

  2. Cut the quinces into quarters or round slices.

  3. Place them in a preserving kettle and cover with the parings and a little water.

  4. Cover with a large plate to trap steam and boil until tender.

Make the syrup

  1. Remove the quinces and strain the liquid through a bag.

  2. For every pint of liquid, add 1 pound of loaf sugar.

  3. Boil the juice and sugar together for about 10 minutes, skimming well.

  4. Add the quinces and boil gently for 20 minutes.

Jar and seal

  1. Once the sugar has penetrated the quinces, remove them and place in a glass jar.

  2. Pour the warm juice over the quinces.

  3. Seal the jar with brandy paper once cool.

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 that becomes tender and firm when cooked and preserved.
Loaf sugar
Sweetens the fruit and, at this concentration, helps preserve it in the syrup.

The step that matters

Boiling the quinces until tender before adding sugar. Quinces are very firm and need thorough cooking to soften before sugar is added, because sugar hardens the fruit's surface and slows further softening. Cooking them fully first helps them become tender and absorb the syrup evenly.

“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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