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Quince Jelly

A preserved quince jelly made by cooking quinces with cloves, straining the juice, and boiling with sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Quince Jelly

Why it works: Quince and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 164 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Quince Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the quinces

  1. Wash and stem the quinces. Cut them up and place in a preserving kettle, including peelings and cores.

  2. Cover with cold water and add the cloves. Cook until soft.

  3. Turn the mixture into a jelly bag and strain to measure the juice into the preserving kettle.

Make the jelly

  1. Warm an equal quantity of sugar in the oven.

  2. Boil the juice for 15 to 20 minutes, then add the hot sugar.

  3. Stir until the sugar is dissolved, removing any scum.

  4. Boil hard for 5 to 10 minutes, then pour into hot sterilized jars.

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.

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.

  1. Quince + clovetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together164 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Quince + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,444 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  3. Clove + sugartop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together17,182 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

Clove and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 17,182 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Quinces
Their natural pectin and acidity help the juice set into a firm jelly.
Sugar
Sweetens the jelly and helps it set by binding water and concentrating the juice.

The step that matters

Boil hard for 5 to 10 minutes after adding the sugar. Sugar must dissolve fully first, then a hard boil concentrates the solids and activates the pectin so the jelly sets. Too short a boil leaves it runny; too long can dull the flavour and colour.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (quince, sugar):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Clovethe original
  3. Gingerfits less well
  4. Nutmegfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against quince, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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