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Dessert

Quince and Crab-apple Jelly

A jelly made from quince and crab-apple, sweetened with sugar and set with brandy-dipped paper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Quince and apple work together. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 506 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

Quince and Crab-apple Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fruit

  1. Slice and core the quinces, then place them in a pot with water.

  2. Cook until tender, then press out the juice.

  3. Cut the crab-apples in half without peeling or coring.

  4. Place the crab-apples in a stone jar set in boiling water for 7-8 hours.

  5. Strain the cold juice through a flannel.

Make the jelly

  1. For every pint of juice, add a pound of sugar and proceed as with currant jelly.

  2. Boil the strained juice down for 20 minutes.

  3. Add sugar in the same proportion as currants.

  4. Let it boil.

  5. Fill the bowls.

Set and seal

  1. Leave the jelly uncovered until the next day.

  2. Cover with two thin papers dipped in brandy.

  3. Seal with paper and paste.

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 + appletop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together506 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  2. Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Apple + brandytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,291 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Apple + curranttop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,918 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

  5. Quince + brandytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together91 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Quinces
Provide pectin and acidity so the juice sets into a firm jelly.
Sugar
Sweetens the jelly and helps it set and keep well.
Siberian crab-apples
Add tart acidity and natural pectin to support setting.

The step that matters

Adding sugar to the juice. Sugar must be measured against the juice and dissolved fully before boiling. Too little sugar can stop the jelly from setting, while boiling too long or unevenly can scorch it or make it cloudy.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (quince, sugar, crab, apple, brandy):

  1. Pearfits better
  2. Plumfits better
  3. Apricotfits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against quince, sugar, crab, apple, brandy. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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