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Dessert

Quince Cheese

A sweet paste made by cooking quince with sugar into a thick, smooth consistency.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 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 ↓

Quince Cheese

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the quinces

  1. Pare and core the quinces.

  2. Cut the quinces into pieces and weigh them.

  3. Measure brown sugar equal to the weight of cut quinces.

Make the syrup

  1. Place the cores and parings in a kettle, cover with water, and keep the lid closed.

  2. Boil the cores and parings until soft.

  3. Strain the water over the sugar and dissolve.

  4. Boil the sugar mixture to a thick syrup, skimming off any scum.

Cook the quince paste

  1. Add the quinces to the syrup.

  2. Cover and boil over low heat for the entire day. Stir the mixture.

  3. Mash until it becomes a thick, smooth paste.

Set and store

  1. Transfer to buttered deep pans or dishes.

  2. Let cool.

  3. Cut into slices like cheese.

  4. Store in a dry place.

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

Fine ripe quinces
Provide the fruit body and natural pectin that set the paste into a sliceable mass.
Brown sugar
Sweetens the paste and, as it cooks down, helps it thicken and keep its shape when cut.

The step that matters

Cooking the quinces over low heat until a thick paste forms. Quince paste sets through pectin and sugar concentration as water evaporates. Too little cooking leaves it runny and unable to hold slices, while scorching at the bottom can make it taste burnt, so stir and watch the mixture closely.

“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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