Quince jelly and other quince recipes revisited
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Jam Jelly and Preserves | 50 comments
I decided last week to turn some of the quinces from Anna’s garden into something delicious. I rubbed off the fluff, cut them into chunks and covered them with water and the zest of a lemon. They were simmering on the gentlest setting (lid on) for about four hours until they softened and the juice took on that deep pink hue.
I strained the juice through a jelly bag overnight and popped both the juice and the strained flesh into the fridge. I was delighted to discover that both keep happily in the fridge for a couple of weeks. 800g of quinces and 850ml (1.5 pints) of water made 600ml of thickish juice that I am going to dilute a bit before venturing to make our delicious jelly. The fruit pulp will be seived and turned into quince cheese or Membrillo.
However, neither the quinces nor the juice have quite the same rich colour of a photograph of poached quinces that I saw last year. Towards the end of 2006 I read two wonderful posts about quinces written by Melissa from The Traveller’s Lunchbox. The first is an exquisite reminiscence of her first taste of membrillo and a good recipe. The second is a lazy way to make poached quinces and a vibrant red quince cordial. The photo on this post has stuck in my mind ever since.
Lying awake last night, I remembered Melissa’s posts and recipes. Although the laptop was propped beside the bed and D was sleeping soundly beside me, I didn’t like to fire it up just a foot away from his pillow. It has inbuilt speakers and is quite a vociferous machine.
So I crept downstairs and leafed through our abridged Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management
Surely one could make Membrillo out of the quinces in both recipes and jelly out of the quince infused water. You would need to leave out the sugar during the baking stage of the poached quince (recpe 2) and probably reduce the liquid a bit after the baking stage.
What do you think?
Also, on the subject of quinces, I found this gorgeous site today with some ancient recipes for making quince paste and setting it in beautiful moulds. These would make wonderful Christmas presents. We have some old glass bowls that belonged to my grandmother that have a star pattern cut into the base. They would make a good mould if the paste was not too hot.
Update. We ow have our own recipe for membrillo here.
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Ahh the lovely quince… the ruby red colour jelly only shows right at the end of the process,when the heat and sugar start to set the preserve at around 105 o, be sure to skim the foamy impurity of the top near the end as this is the best way to get a really clear deep colour
Also there is no need to add colour of any kind, I always make sure at the simmer stage that I crack the pips as they stew ,this i was told helps the natural pectic and colour release.It does seem to work I also poach the fruit in chamomille tea to help balance the P.H value
Apple or pears are essentially a bulking addition, not bad but go for the pure quince fruit and you wont be dissapointed
Hi Mildred
I reckon that they add the apples and pears to keep the price down.
I don’t think that there’s a right way or a wrong way for membrillo. You use the sugar quince ratio to suit your taste. I don’t use the quince water in the membrillo as I use this for jelly but that’s just my way.
Good to read you are Quinc-ing today Fi.
I just happened to look at a packet of ‘Membrillo’ in Waitrose the other day, it said ‘the sweet flavour of quince with apples and pears . . . ‘. I didn’t have my specs with me so I couldn’t read the exact percentages. It reminded me of a so called ‘Quince Jelly’ in Tesco, the very small print read ‘8 percent PEAR concentrate, and 4 percent Quince concentrate’ (it may have said syrup and not concentrate) followed by a list of other ingredients.
Am I doing it wrong I wonder . . . . basically for every pint of fruit syrup / pulp add a pound of sugar . . . . add a bit of lemon juice / rind, and that is it! We felt our second batch (in which we cooked the whole fruit, including the core) wasn’t as sweet as the first lot. The sieve, of course, stopped any pips etc getting into the pulp.
I am looking forwards to reading about your triumph!
Hi Pat,
Glad that you are enjoying the site.
Snap – I am on the jelly membrillo tail today. Membrillo needs to be put in a straight sided jar as it is sliced (ramekins would do at a pinch. Some people make a lrage flat cake and slice it up (this needs to be kept in the fridge.) If you put it in jars it has a similar shelf life to jam so no need to freeze.
I hope that I will be able to post our membrillo recipe tonight, if all goes well. I am trying to make one that is not too sweet. Fingers crossed!
Have just come across this wonderful site, and am about to make jelly this evening, using the sieved paste as a base for Normandy apple pie, with a quince jelly glaze! Now there’s another 2lb. of large quinces, courtesy of a generous neighbour, in the fridge. I have never heard of membrillo but would like to try it. Will it freeze for an end of November Bazaar or should I pot it like jam! Help please. Thanks. Pat
Hi Adam,
Your quince, blackberry and honey creation sounds delicious. Love the speedy way of creating your juice!
Unfortunately your comment was truncated so, unless you pass this way again, we will never know the fate of the sloes gathered in the church yard at Westerham…
Hope this is not too scary but, yes, I am a man who finds a whiff of quince-intoxication here. Not only that. My neighbour [oops, my spellchecker wants to say neighbor, does that help?] has a big quince this year heavily gravid with fruit – maybe a passing bonus from climate change. A couple of weeks ago she left on the doorstep a carrier bag bursting with perfumed early windfalls, knowing that I am dedicated to the distillation of fruitfulness into summer-memory-jellies of all kinds.
Being male, I use a coarse cheese-grater on the whole fruit (core too hard – needs further investigation) and dump the shreddings with juice and potato-peelered rind of a lemon or two into a pressure cooker with not a lot of water and cook for no more than 10 minutes. The result drains quite clear through a seive but I don’t want to waste so pressure from the back of a ladle squeezes more from the pulp…this is quite pink, but…
There are still a few straggling blackberries to rescue from local fields and hedges, so I prepare a seived pulp of these to combine with the quince-extract…plus the usual 1lb/pint (1kg/litre) of sugar except I include a good dollop of English honey…
So I have laid down a few jars of jelly-jam labelled QuincessenceBrambleHoney23Sept2007.
But, having today discovered a staggering cache of sloes in the Churchyard at Westerham…
The
Hi Pat,
Can’t wait to be up and about again, brandishing a wooden spoon!
Hi Aitch,
Pleased that you are enjoying the site.
You can cook with quinces when they are still hard. I am using my friend Anna’s as her garden is about 3 weeks ahead of mine. Both types of quince, the japonica (round and apple like) and the quince from a quince tree (soft leaved tree with large almost pear shaped fruit) keep well if they are not bruised.
It’s worth keeping your eyes peeled in the market as quinces are just coming into the shops now. Then you can supplement your harvest with a bit more.
Hi Mildred,
Thanks for your advice. You are right, they are dense heavy fruit.
Your enthusiasm is an inspiration!
Hi Aitch, just to say that 3 or 4 of the quince fruit we were given made a pound – they are heavy fruits! Even 2 lbs is enough to create jelly or cheese. You can also use half apples to quinces. Maybe, if you only have a couple, try poaching them as a pud, I think Fi has mentioned that on another page.
And I agree with you, it IS wonderful to find such a wonderful blog, and to meet other enthusiastic cooks! I have felt very inspired 🙂
Wow, what a Find! What wonderful blog. I’ve only just discovered the weird fruit on a formerly ornate bush in my back garden are quinces, so looking for how to use them. I am absolutely Captivated by all I’ve read here. I don’t think my few fruits will produce anything like 4-5 lbs, and they still have to ripen. At the moment they look like upper class cooking apples! I can hardly wait to try some (some? one if I’m lucky! but you have to start somewhere) recipes found here.