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
Cook the quinces
Quarter the quinces and boil them in enough water to nearly cover them until they begin to break.
Strain the juice from the quinces and measure 1 pint of juice for every pound of quinces.
Simmer the quinces gently until perfectly tender, then press them with the juice through a coarse sieve.
Make the marmalade
In a clean pan, combine the quince puree and juice, and boil until it forms a dry paste.
Add ¾ lb of sugar for each pound of quinces and the half pint of juice, and boil for 30 minutes, stirring constantly.
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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Quince + sugartop 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
- Quinces
- Supply pectin and tart flavour that help the marmalade set and taste distinctive.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the fruit and, as it boils down, thickens the paste and helps it keep.
The step that matters
Boiling down the quince paste while stirring constantly. As water evaporates, the sugar and fruit concentrate and the mixture thickens quickly near the end. Sugar and fruit solids scorch easily on the base of the pan, so constant stirring prevents burning and keeps the texture even.
“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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