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Quinces, Preserved

A sweet preserve made by simmering ripe quinces in sugar syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 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 ↓

Quinces, Preserved

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the quinces

  1. Choose very ripe, yellow, and sound quinces. Pare, quarter, and core them.

  2. Put the quinces into a little water and scald them until soft. Then, transfer them to cold water to cool.

  3. Drain the quinces.

Make the syrup and cook

  1. In a pot, clarify and boil an equal weight of sugar until it reaches a syrup consistency.

  2. Add the quinces to the syrup, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes.

  3. Remove from heat, skim the surface, and pour the preserve into a pan.

Rest and reboil

  1. After two days, drain off the syrup and boil it until it reaches a 'perle' stage.

  2. Add the quinces back to the syrup, bring to a boil, then let it cool slightly.

  3. Simmer for another 15 minutes, then let it sit until the next day.

  4. Repeat the boiling of the syrup to 'perle' stage.

Pot and finish

  1. Once cooled, transfer the preserve into pots, adding a little quince jelly to each.

  2. If desired, add a little prepared cochineal for a red color, ensuring the jelly is also red.

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

Very ripe quinces
Provide the fruit that softens, sets into a firm texture, and gives the preserve its flavour.
Sugar
Sweetens the preserve and, as a concentrated syrup, preserves the fruit and helps it hold its shape.
Quince jelly
Adds extra natural pectin and quince flavour to help the preserve set in each pot.

The step that matters

Boiling the syrup to 'perle' stage. Sugar syrup must reach the perle stage, a firm bead when dropped in cold water, to concentrate enough to preserve the fruit. Underboiling leaves it too thin and prone to spoiling; overboiling can make it hard or sugary.

“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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