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 quinces
Pare and quarter the quinces, removing the cores.
Place them in a saucepan with enough spring water to nearly cover them.
Cover and simmer gently until they are soft and red.
Mash and strain the quinces through a fine sieve.
Make the marmalade
In a pan over low heat, combine the strained quinces with an equal weight of thick clarified sugar.
Boil for one hour, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon to prevent sticking.
Pour into pots and allow to cool before sealing.
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
- Provide the fruit, pectin and tart flavour that the marmalade is built on.
- Thick clarified sugar
- Sweetens the fruit and, as it concentrates, helps the marmalade set and keep.
The step that matters
Boiling with continuous stirring. Sugar-rich fruit pulp scorches easily on the base of the pan, and the mixture must thicken enough to set. Constant stirring spreads the heat and prevents burnt, sticky patches that would spoil the flavour and colour.
“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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