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Quince Marmalade

A preserve made from quince fruit, sugar, and water, cooked until firm.

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 ↓

Quince Marmalade

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fruit

  1. Cut the quinces into small pieces and cover with water.

  2. Cook until tender.

  3. In another pot, simmer the cores and skins in enough water to prevent burning.

  4. Strain the gelatinous liquid and add it to the quince pulp.

Make the marmalade

  1. Stir in 2 cups of sugar for every pound of fruit.

  2. Boil the mixture, stirring constantly, until it becomes a smooth mass.

  3. Test for a firm consistency like jelly.

Store

  1. Pour into jars or bowls, cover tightly, and store in a dry place.

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
Provide the fruit pulp and natural pectin that gives the marmalade its body and set.
Sugar
Sweetens the marmalade and helps it thicken and set as it cooks down.

The step that matters

Boil the mixture, stirring constantly, until it becomes a smooth mass. Sugar and fruit pectin only set properly at a high concentration reached by boiling. Stirring constantly prevents the sugar-rich mixture from scorching on the base of the pot, which would give a burnt taste.

“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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