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
Pare and core the quinces.
Cut the quinces into quarters.
Boil the quinces in water until tender.
Weigh the fruit.
Make the syrup
Add 1 pound of sugar for each pound of fruit.
In a preserving kettle, combine the sugar with ⅓ cup of water for each pound of sugar.
Dissolve ¼ ounce of isinglass in warm water for every 6 pounds of fruit.
Boil the mixture.
Skim the mixture until no more scum rises.
Pour the syrup into another vessel.
Clean the kettle.
Return the syrup to the kettle and add the fruit.
Cook and preserve
Set over a brisk fire and boil for about 1.5 hours, or until the fruit looks clear when held to the light.
Ensure it boils hard to prevent dark coloring.
Remove from heat when translucent.
Take out the fruit piece by piece, placing it on broad dishes.
Strain the syrup.
When lukewarm, place the fruit in jars and pour the syrup over it.
Once cold, cover with brandy paper and seal tightly.
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.
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Quince + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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 turns clear and translucent when cooked in syrup.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the fruit and, in a concentrated syrup, helps preserve it.
- Isinglass
- Gelatin-like clarifier that helps the syrup set clear and hold the fruit.
The step that matters
Keep the syrup boiling hard. A vigorous boil concentrates the sugar and drives off water quickly, which helps the fruit turn clear. A weak, slow boil lets the fruit and syrup darken and stay cloudy.
“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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