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 Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Pare, core, and weigh the quinces.
Place them in a pot and add enough water to cover the fruit.
Simmer until the quinces are tender.
Make the syrup
Remove the quinces and strain the syrup.
Add 1 pound of sugar for each pound of fruit.
For every 6 pounds of sugar, add 1 quart of the liquid from boiling the quinces.
Return the fruit to the pot and boil until clear.
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 flavor and natural pectin that helps the jam thicken and set.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and, at high concentration, helps preserve the jam and set its gel.
The step that matters
Boil the fruit until clear. This is when the jam thickens. Sugar concentration and the quinces' pectin form the gel, so stopping too early leaves the jam runny.
“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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