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 ↓
Preserved Quinces
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the quinces
Pare, quarter, and core the quinces, saving the skins and cores.
Place the quinces in a pot with just enough water to cover them and simmer until soft but not breaking.
Remove the quinces.
Spread them on broad dishes to cool.
Make the syrup
Add the saved parings, seeds, and cores to the water used for boiling the quinces and stew, covered, for one hour.
Strain the mixture through a jelly bag.
Add one pound of sugar for every pint of liquid.
Boil the syrup.
Skim the syrup.
Add the quinces and boil for fifteen minutes.
Remove from heat.
Pour into a large deep pan.
Cover and let stand for twenty-four hours.
Cook and dry the quinces
Drain off the syrup.
Bring it to a boil.
Carefully add the quinces and boil for another fifteen minutes.
Remove the quinces.
Spread them out on dishes.
Place them in the hottest sunshine available.
Boil the syrup until it begins to jelly.
Fill jars two-thirds full and cover with syrup.
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, which softens and turns tender and translucent when simmered in syrup.
- Sugar
- Preserves the fruit and sweetens it, and thickens the syrup as it boils down.
The step that matters
Simmer the quinces until soft but not breaking. Quinces are firm and need gentle simmering to become tender. Overcooking causes them to fall apart, while undercooking leaves them hard and dense, so they must be checked as they cook.
“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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