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Quince Marmalade

A sweet preserve made by stewing quince pieces with sugar until thick and bright red.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 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 ↓

Quince Marmalade

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Pare and cut the quinces into small pieces.

Make the marmalade

  1. Stew the quinces in enough water to cover them until they can be mashed with a wooden spoon.

  2. Once well mashed, add the sugar, using ¾ pound of sugar for every pound of fruit.

  3. Cook until the mixture turns a bright red color and thickens when cooled.

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 pectin and tart flavor that give the marmalade its body and character.
Sugar
Sweetens the fruit and, as it cooks down, helps the mixture thicken and set.

The step that matters

Cook until the mixture thickens when cooled. Quince pectin and sugar only set into a firm spread once enough water has evaporated and the sugar concentration is high. Stopping too early leaves a runny marmalade, while overcooking can scorch the sugar and darken the flavor.

“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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