Why it works: Sugar and quince 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 Honey
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Dissolve the sugar in the water in a large pot.
Bring the mixture to a boil until it thickens to a molasses-like consistency.
Add the quince
Peel and grate one quince at a time, adding each to the boiling syrup.
Continue until all six quinces are added.
Finish and jar
Boil for an additional 5 minutes after the last quince is stirred in.
Pour the mixture into jelly glasses.
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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Sugar + quincetop 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
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the preserve and, as it cooks down, thickens the syrup.
- Quinces
- Supply pectin and tart flavor that help the mixture thicken and set.
The step that matters
Boiling time after the last quince. As water evaporates, the sugar and quince pectin concentrate and gel as the mixture cools. Stopping too early leaves it runny, while boiling too long can darken and over-thicken it, so the timed boil needs to be followed closely.
“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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