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 Jellt
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the juice
If quinces are high, use peels and cores; if plentiful, boil the whole fruit.
Cover the quinces with water and boil until tender.
Pour the mixture into a jelly bag without pressing and let it drain into an earthen dish.
Make the jelly
For every pint of juice, use 1 pound of sugar.
Heat the juice in a preserving kettle, stir in the sugar, and boil for a few moments.
Pour the mixture into molds.
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 set the jelly.
- White sugar
- Sweetens the jelly and helps it set firm and hold its shape.
The step that matters
Drain without pressing the jelly bag. Squeezing the bag pushes cloudy pulp and fine solids into the juice, making the jelly murky. Letting it drip keeps the juice clear.
“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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