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Dessert

Quince Honey

A sweet syrup made by boiling water, sugar, and grated quince until reduced.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and quince 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 Honey

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a large pot, combine 2 quarts of water and 3 pounds of sugar.

  2. Bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes.

  3. Add 4 grated quinces to the pot.

  4. Continue boiling until the mixture reduces by nearly half.

  5. Stir occasionally towards the end of cooking.

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. Sugar + quincetop 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

Sugar
Provides sweetness and, as the liquid reduces, thickens the mixture into a syrup-like honey.
Quinces
Add their flavor and natural pectin, which helps the reduced mixture thicken and set.

The step that matters

Boiling until reduced by nearly half. As water evaporates, sugar concentrates and the mixture thickens. Stopping too early leaves it runny, while going too long can scorch the sugar and quince. Occasional stirring near the end keeps the bottom from sticking and burning.

“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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