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To Preserve Quinces Whole

A method for preserving whole quinces in sugar syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 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 ↓

To Preserve Quinces Whole

Ingredients

Directions

Poach the quinces

  1. Pare the quinces very thin and place them in a preserving pan with the parings.

  2. Cover the pan with a plate to keep in steam.

  3. Fill the pan with water.

  4. Heat until the quinces are soft and pink.

Make the syrup

  1. Boil 1½ pounds of sugar with 1 pint of the water used for boiling the quinces to make a thin syrup.

  2. Remove the scum from the syrup.

  3. Add the quinces to the syrup.

  4. Boil the quinces for 10 minutes.

  5. Remove the pan from heat.

  6. Let the mixture cool overnight.

Finish and pack

  1. The next day, boil the quinces until they look clear.

  2. Transfer the quinces to a dish.

  3. Add the remaining sugar to the syrup.

  4. Boil until the syrup is thick.

  5. Return the quinces to the syrup.

  6. Boil once more until the quinces are clear and a fine color.

  7. Pack the quinces into deep jars.

  8. Seal the jars with a bladder.

  9. Optionally core the quinces with an apple scoop or cut them in half, but they look better whole with the stalks on.

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 that softens, turns pink and sets clear in the syrup.
Lump sugar
Sweetens the fruit and, boiled down, thickens the syrup and preserves the quinces.
Sugar
Sweetens the syrup in two portions, building thickness as it reduces.

The step that matters

Boil the quinces until they look clear. Slow simmering in syrup lets sugar gradually replace the water in the fruit, so it turns clear and keeps. Boiling too hard or too briefly can break the fruit or leave it cloudy and unpreserved.

“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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