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Dessert

Quince Jelly

A preserved quince jelly made by boiling fruit, straining juice, adding sugar and isinglass, then cooling in glasses.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Quince Jelly

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 Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the quinces

  1. Pare and core the quinces, placing them in cold water as you work.

  2. Put the quinces in a preserving kettle and cover with water.

  3. Boil until tender.

  4. Pour the fruit and water into a sieve over a pan and let it drain without mashing the fruit.

  5. Strain the juice through a jelly bag.

Make the jelly

  1. For each pint of juice, add 1 pound of sugar.

  2. Add ¼ ounce of dissolved isinglass for every 5 pounds of sugar.

  3. Heat the mixture over the fire, boiling and skimming until a jelly forms.

  4. Test the jelly by dropping a little into a glass of cold water. It’s done if it sinks without mingling.

Pot and cover

  1. Pour the jelly into glasses when lukewarm and let them cool uncovered.

  2. Cover with brandy paper and paste paper over the top.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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 whose juice, rich in natural pectin, sets the jelly.
White sugar
Sweetens the jelly and helps it set firm and clear when boiled.
Isinglass
Gelatin-like protein that adds extra setting strength to the jelly.

The step that matters

Judging when the jelly is done. Boiling too briefly leaves the jelly runny, while overboiling can make it stiff or cloudy. The cold water test shows whether the sugar and pectin have reached a set point.

“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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