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 Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the quinces
Pare, quarter, core, and weigh the quinces quickly.
Add the quinces to part of the water in which they will be boiled.
Cook and strain
Simmer gently until the quinces are slightly broken but the juice remains pale.
Strain the liquid through a fine cloth without pressing.
Make the jelly
Weigh the juice and place it in a clean preserving pan.
Boil the juice quickly for 20 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in sugar until fully dissolved.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 pectin and tart flavour that set the jelly.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jelly and helps it set and keep its shape.
The step that matters
Simmer gently until the quinces are slightly broken but the juice remains pale. Simmering gently extracts pectin and flavour without breaking the fruit down too far. Vigorous boiling can make the juice cloudy and dull its colour, and over-cooked fruit releases starch that clouds the finished jelly.
“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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