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Stewed Quinces

Stewed quinces simmered with sugar and water, then turned into jam and syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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 ↓

Stewed Quinces

Ingredients

Directions

Make the quince jam

  1. Combine quartered quinces, 3 pounds sugar, and 1 pint water in a pot.

  2. Cover with white paper to retain steam and simmer gently for 3 hours.

  3. Beat the mixture into a jam.

  4. Add ½ pound more sugar.

  5. Simmer for another 30 minutes.

Make the syrup

  1. Boil the parings and cores of 2 pounds quinces in water for a syrup.

  2. Add 2 pounds sugar to the boiling liquid and let the sugar dissolve.

  3. Continue boiling until the liquid thickens.

  4. Skim off any scum.

  5. Let the syrup cool.

Combine and finish

  1. Add the quinces to the syrup.

  2. Add a little cochineal.

  3. Stir until done.

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 flavour and pectin that helps the jam and syrup set.
Sugar
Sweetens the dish and thickens the mixture as it concentrates through cooking.
Quince parings and cores
Add extra pectin and flavour to the syrup, helping it thicken.

The step that matters

Continue boiling until the liquid thickens. The syrup sets as water evaporates and sugar and quince pectin concentrate. Stopping too early leaves it thin, while boiling too long makes it stiff and sticky as it cools.

“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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