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Quinces, to Pickle

A preserved quince dish made by simmering quinces in honey and water, then jarred.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Quince and honey work together. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 24 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

Quinces, to Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Pare and cut the quinces into small pieces.

  2. Combine the quinces, water, and honey in a large saucepan. Mix well and heat on low for 30 minutes.

Pickle and seal

  1. Strain the liquid into a jar and let it cool completely.

  2. Wipe the quinces dry and place them in the jar.

  3. Seal the jar tightly.

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 + honeytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together24 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Quinces
Provide the fruit flavor and firm pieces that hold their shape in the syrup.
Honey
Adds sweetness and body to the syrup, sweetening the quince pieces as they soak.

The step that matters

Let the liquid cool completely before adding the quinces. Quince pieces added to hot liquid can soften too much and cook further. Cooling the syrup first keeps the fruit firmer and helps the jar seal safely.

“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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