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To Preserve Quinces

A method for preserving quinces in sugar syrup and storing them in jars.

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 ↓

To Preserve Quinces

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the quinces

  1. Peel and cut quinces into halves or quarters, removing the hard parts, and place them in cold water.

  2. Weigh 2–3 pounds of quinces and boil them in water over high heat until boiling quickly, then reduce heat and cook until soft.

  3. Remove the quinces and place them on a dish.

Make the syrup and cook

  1. Weigh an equal amount of sugar and prepare a thick syrup using equal parts of clear water and the water from boiling quinces.

  2. Remove scum from the syrup, add the quinces, and cook slowly until they are thoroughly coated with sugar.

  3. Repeat the process with additional quinces and new syrup until all are done.

Store

  1. Once cooled, store the quinces in small jars and cover them with brandy paper.

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
Are the fruit being preserved, providing the main body and flavor of the finished dish.
Sugar
Coats the quinces and, in a thick syrup, helps preserve them and gives sweetness.
Clear water
Forms the syrup with sugar and quince cooking water, dissolving the sugar for coating the fruit.

The step that matters

Cooking the quinces in the syrup. Cooking slowly lets sugar penetrate the fruit and thoroughly coat it. Rushing with high heat can break the quinces apart or leave the sugar on the surface, so the fruit does not preserve well.

“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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