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Preserved Quinces

A method of preserving quinces in sugar syrup.

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 ↓

Preserved Quinces

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fruit

  1. Pare and quarter the quinces.

  2. Boil the quinces in enough water to keep them whole until tender.

  3. Remove the quinces from the water.

Cook in sugar syrup

  1. Add 1 pound of granulated sugar for each pound of quince.

  2. Let the quinces sit in the sugar overnight until the syrup is light and clear.

  3. Boil the quinces in the syrup for 20 minutes until they are tender.

Richer version

  1. For a richer version, pare and halve the quinces, removing the cores.

  2. Add 1 teacup of water for each pound of fruit.

  3. Boil gently until a broom splint can pierce them.

  4. Remove the quinces with a skimmer.

  5. Cover the quinces with a napkin.

Finish and store

  1. Add 1 pound of sugar to the boiling water.

  2. Stir until the sugar is dissolved.

  3. Return the quinces to the syrup.

  4. Boil gently until the quinces are clear and the syrup thickens.

  5. Check a quince; if not uniformly colored, boil longer.

  6. Transfer the quinces to a stone jar.

  7. Let the syrup cool.

  8. Pour the syrup over the fruit.

  9. Cover with a clean cloth.

  10. Place a lid on the jar the next day.

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
The main fruit; it softens when boiled and turns clear and tender in the syrup.
Granulated sugar
Sweetens the fruit and, dissolved and boiled, forms the syrup that preserves it.

The step that matters

Boil until the quinces are uniformly colored and clear. Quinces take on their color and clarity only as the sugar syrup penetrates the fruit. If they are pulled early, they stay pale and firm and keep poorly, so check a quince and boil longer until every piece looks the same.

“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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