Of all the jams and preserves we make, quince jelly would have to be the most useful.
We use it to glaze ham, stir it into sauces, and serve it up with cheeses. It’s somewhat ironic then that we make it so rarely, as we don’t often get our hands on the fruit. I know they’re readily available, but for some reason, never at the places where we shop.
Thankfully, a neighbour tipped us off recently to a supply at a local fruit market. We came home with several kilos of enormous hard quinces…
After scrubbing off the furry coating, these were chopped up (core in and peel on) and brought to boil in a large pot of filtered water…
It’s been years since we last made this jelly, and in that time Pete has refined his jam making process. He now tries to use as little sugar as possible, arguing that too much of it masks the true fruit flavour. So despite having a tried and tested recipe (posted here), he decided to alter the quantities in this batch.
After boiling and straining, we were left with 3½ litres of pink quince “stock”. To that, we added just 2½ kilos of sugar (a kilo less than we would have used a few years ago), the juice of three large lemons and three jars of homemade pectin.
Of course, the jelly didn’t set easily, because the balance wasn’t quite right. We added an extra jar of pectin and the juice of another lemon, and boiled the pot vigorously for ages. It’s in situations like this that experience really comes into play – most people would have given up at this point, but Pete was certain the jelly would finally come together.
And he was right. As the liquid cooked down, the jelly darkened to this gorgeous rosy hue. The colour change always astonishes me…
We now have thirteen jars of not overly sweet, fruit-driven jelly, which we’ve stashed in the pantry to keep us going for the next couple of years. The jars were hot water processed, and even though the recommended keeping time for preserves such as these is only a year, we’ve found that our jellies last much longer than that (if unopened) before they start to lose their set.
Hmmm. I think I need to go out and buy some ham now!
wow this looks so pretty. I’ve made quince paste before but never jelly. I’ve made grape jelly but that’s not so swish. :)
Maureen, we’re trying quince paste right now – our last attempt was a disaster, as we tried to use the leftover pulp from jelly making, and it was all gritty! And can I just say, the hardest jelly we’ve ever made was grape jelly, so if you can make that, you’re a STAR! :)
What a beautiful colour Celia. I’m interested that you hot water process, which we rarely do in the UK – possibly because we have cooler places to keep our jam and jellies? I must sort out my jam before I make any more as I saw a 2007 jar lurking on the shelf.
And yes, you definitely need some ham now :).
Anne, I don’t think it’s common practice here either, but the Americans seem to do it a lot. I get a little nervy about things going off, and when we hot water process, the lids seal on so tightly that we often have to break them to get them off. By the way, you win, our oldest jar is only 2009. :)
My Mum used to make quince jelly every year, the neighbours had a tree and it leaned right over our fence much to Mums delight. it was one of those old fashioned big trunked low branching trees. I once took a bite of one just to see why she added so much sugar. Oh I have never forgotton that. SOUR!! and chalky. awful.. but fantastic jelly, yours looks gorgeous. best i go out and FEED my hams!! c
Celi, that’s too funny, could you imagine if we were neighbours – I’d supply the quince jelly, and you’d bring a pig. Oh that’s terrible, they’re all so cute in your photos.. ;-)
My grandmother used to make quince jelly each year and it was the most lovely tasting and lovely colored jelly of all. Yours has that beautiful look to it and reminded me of that, thanks!
That’s so nice, I’m glad it reminded you! Grandmothers seem infinitely more clever than we are – the last one I chatted to insisted that she made her quince jelly without any added pectin – we’ve never been able to make that work! :)
Beautiful! We love our quince here in Andalucia and make a paste with it which we slice thickly and serve with cheese. I’ll have it wait until about November or December though to make our next batch :( Yours is stunning, so clear and beautiful.
Chica, after all the comments about paste, we’ve gone out and bought the last of this season’s quinces from our fruit shop and we’re now trying to make paste! We always make our apple butter in the oven, so we’re doing the same with the quince paste – fingers crossed! Thanks for the inspiration! :)
Ooh, I’m sure yours will be amazing. Here’s how we make ours (the quickest way I’ve come across)! http://chicaandaluza.com/2011/11/14/dulce-de-membrillo-quince-jelly/
Chica, we did something similar, except that we baked the paste in the oven to thicken it up and then scooped it into jars rather than set it solid into blocks. It worked quite well, but we didn’t get very much! :)
Bet it tastes good though!
yum, I adore quince paste, and also find quinces hard to come by
Kirsty, we love both the jelly and the paste – the jelly is a little bit more useful for our cooking! :)
lovely post
Thanks Linda! :)
IT’s a funny fruit, but makes amazing jam – yours looks perfect!
Hi Nick, thank you! It’s fun to make, but lots of washing up afterwards! :)
It looks lovely Celia. I am sure that lot will keep you going for a year or two.
Glenda, thanks love, we’re well and truly stocked up now! (If I don’t give it all away!) :)
I wish I could find some quince. I have a bush that only has small and few quinces every year- not enough to make much of anything. Pete’s jelly is just beautiful- and I like the ways you use it!
Thanks for sharing Celia!
Heidi, we’ve talked about a quince tree, but I think we’ve decided against it. They’re quite high maintenance in our climate, and there’s no real guarantee of getting decent fruit off them!
Quinces have been the fruit I’ve craved during this pregnancy! Have been slow cooking them in a spiced vanilla syrup and have fallen so deeply in love that I bought a quince tree yesterday! I hope it isn’t one of those foods that I’ll never want to see the sight of again!
Clare, if it is, you’ll be able to make jelly and paste from them! We’ve decided against a tree, but the really big advantage of having one would be that you could get your fruit unbruised!
We are very lucky to have a Quince tree (Taihape) and it produces a great crop of beautiful pendulous fruits every year. They are so pretty we have thought of getting more trees but then finding the time to deal with them! There is only so much Quince Jelly, Quince Cheese and Quince Ratafia we can get through! Still the change in colour is so magical I am sure to keep on with them :) Happy preserving.
How wonderful that you get so much fruit off your tree! And I’m off to google Quince Ratafia now.. ;-)
Such a beautiful colour, Celia and Pete… thanks for the great instructions.
Lizzy, I have quince paste in the oven now, if it works, I’ll blog that too! :)
I love quince jelly too and am very optimistic that I may have a bowl full from our tree this year (last year we had the grand harvest of one quince!) smelling so fragrant in the kitchen before they’re made into jelly. Will return to this – really interesting that you’re able to make it with less sugar, it looks a perfect set too. How wonderful that you have all those jars of home-made pectin to hand too.
Andrea, I’m not sure if you always need pectin, but we always add it as we have it on hand. It’s the backbone of our jam making. I hope you get a tree full of fruit this year! :)
Amazing transformation… I just love the way it happens, put the right ingredients together, add heat… food alchemy… gold :)
ED, it’s quite remarkable, isn’t it? I’m always amazed as well…
I’ve no experience with quince, Celia, but last year I promised myself that I’d try making a few jars of jelly this year. Now I’ve got the recipe, all I need do is wait for the quince to appear at the markets. Thanks for sharing your recipe. of I do make some jelly, I’ll be sure to tell you about the experience. :)
John, good luck with the jelly, it’s a fiddly business. I can’t seem to get it right, but Pete has the touch. :) We used to make apple jelly – there are some wonderful youtube clips on it!
ooooooooooo that sounds great – i’ll have to give it a try :-)
Sandy, it’s such a nice staple to have in the pantry!
beautiful celia..i too love the gorgeous colour transformation and the smell as it cooks is also heavenly..x
Jane, it has such a distinctive flavour too – quite honey like!
So funny that you finished with the ham comment because the second you mentioned ham I was counting the months until Christmas ham.
I’m always amazed at the colour quince jam comes out too. Such a vibrant colour from something that’s really a bit plain to start with. Well done Pete!
Claire, I’ve decided ham doesn’t have to be for Christmas, so I’ve gone and bought a free range leg portion. It’s vac sealed in the fridge, waiting for me to build up the nerve to open it – it takes commitment to deal with 5kg of ham! :)
Are you sure they will last a couple of years?
Such a pretty color jelly, you’ll probably find many more uses for it.
Norma, I hope so! But I hope you’re right too, and that we do find lots of things to do with it! :)
This looks delicious Celia, beautiful colour! Quinces are amazing aren’t they? I wonder who first thought of cooking up this hard fruit to turn it into something so wonderful?
Jane, can you imagine how they would have reacted when they noticed the liquid turning red? ;-)
The quince is such an unusual fruit. You look at it and think it just has no potential. But there are so many things you can do with a quince. I’ve been looking forward to this post! And I’m so happy to have one of your jars in my pantry – I feel very blessed! Do thank Pete for me xx
Charlie, so happy to be able to share with you! Hope you have fun with it! :)
Oh, the colour of that jelly!!! No big news methinks that we are not quite in my area of enchanting expertise but this I have to try, so, logically, first find some quinces :) !
Eha, you might find some where you are as it’s a bit cooler – almost finished here in Sydney! :)
Oops! Thanks – with the weekend coming up I’ll ask around :) ! Have a good’one!! Oh: if any of your readers are after shelf items USA – as I just commented on Maureen’s > GroceryRun [Oz], ’cause they have a large and varying number of items at pretty rock bottom prices – if one learns how to use the site it is fab!!!
I always think quince jelly is the colour of carnelians (or vice versa). And did you know the word marmalade is derived from the spanish name for quinces? Luckily quinces are easy to grow in Tasmania and can even be found wild on old farmhouse sites, though an orchardist once told me “where you’ve got quinces you’ve got coddlin moth”.
Kade, now *that’s* interesting – I’d always read that the word marmalade came from Queen Mary wanting the preserve when she was unwell – “Marie est malade”, or something of that ilk! But google tells me you’re right! Thanks for the headsup! :)
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-mar3.htm
I think quinces grow well wherever apples grow well, which sadly isn’t our backyard! :)
I love Pete’s tenacity – Go Pete!
I love the look of quince jelly – so pretty.
:-) Mandy xo
Thanks Mandy! I’ll let him know.. :)
Beautiful jewels for the pantry Celia! Great job Pete, I bet the kitchen smelt wonderful while it all boiled down too. Do you think the lesser amount of sugar will affect the keeping quality though? I don’t like things too sweet either so I think this sounds much nicer :) xox
Becca, Pete doesn’t think so. He gave me a long-winded answer about how you still end up with the same amount of sugar in the finished jelly (or it wouldn’t set), but instead of being mostly sucrose, it’s less white sugar and more fruit sugars, hence you get more fruit flavour in each jar. He said if you add more sugar, you just end up with more jars, as the sugar is like a filler, but you’ll divide the fruit flavour between all of them. Does any of that make sense to you? (I’m a bit befuddled) xx
I’m a bit befuddled too. I’ll stay tuned :) xox
Yay Pete, good job!! I’m all for less sugar in my jams and jellies. I agree that in most store bought jams/jellies all you taste is mostly the sugar. I buy and stock up on ‘no sugar added’ jams that the Amish make. I’m so used to it, that I can hardly eat jams made with the normal amounts of sugar used in canning.
Beautiful jars of quince jelly you have. He must be very proud of them.
Melanie, thank you! We are pretty chuffed with the jelly! :)
quince jelly is amazing stuff – so beautiful. I thought that sugar helped to preserve fruit but maybe I have this wrong. Experience is so much more powerful than vague hunches – glad pete got it right
Johanna, I think the sugar does help preserve, but I think it’s a case of balancing the fruit sugars and the sucrose. Pete insists the jelly won’t set properly unless it gets to a certain sugar level, but what he’s trying to do is get the balance so there’s more fruit sugars and less added sugars in the final mix.
Quince jelly is indeed pretty tasty stuff & home-made is indeed best! Love to serve it with cheese & bread, alongside fine sheep’s cheeses, etc! MMMM! x
Sophie, I love sheep’s cheeses too! And you’re right, they’re a fine combination with the quince paste! :)
😀
I’ve never tried quince before but I’m now going to have to keep my eyes peeled to see if we can get them around here. You certainly have a way of tantalizing my tastebuds with this one.
Diane, they’re such an interesting fruit – inedible raw, but after a few hours stewing in sugar, they’re soft and delicious. Pete has been eating them for breakfast since we found our recent supply (sadly it’s very seasonal though, and they’re just about finished now!).
Hi Celia, I tried a quince jelly recipe using whole quinces. Cover with water add sugar & lemon and boil until it sets. Carefully scoop out quinces and bottle. The remaining quinces are then delicious with thick cream!! I was convinced that it wasn’t going to set, but it did in the end!
Simon, that’s fantastic – that’s how my friend Joan in Tassie does it as well! She gets access to so many fresh off the tree quinces that sometimes she freezes them whole, and then turns them into quince jelly six months later, by boiling them whole! I’ve never had enough fruit to try.. :)
Celia I make it every year but we live in an area that has abundant quince trees,to waste less you can use the peel and cores and keep the fruit and make a jam with that it is one of my favorites and boil up the left overs for jelly you can add your apple peelings in with this as well and that will help with the setting,the fruit freezes(raw) well to use later.
Sheena, that’s great advice, thank you! We just tried doing something similar – we used the flesh to make quince paste (kind of) and used the rest to make jelly. We still haven’t figured out how to make quince paste that isn’t gritty though…not quite sure what we’re doing wrong!
Thank you for my precious jar of quince jelly Celia and Pete! I can’t wait to cook with it. It’s so versatile :)
You’re most welcome, darling! :)
Once quince is back in the market I shall make this. Sounds wonderful
Hope you enjoy it as much as we do – it’s one of the nicest things we make in the kitchen!
Quinces are hard to come by in the U.S. … the rare and expensive few hit the market in the fall. I’m bookmarking this for then!
The colour change was amazing Celia. I have never tried quince jelly before :)
Tandy, we’ve only ever tried our homemade version – usually all we see in shops is quince paste! Pete thinks the jelly is nicer.. :)
Hi Celia, this is a message for Pete.
I have challenged myself with low sugar jams this winter; being guided by Jude Blereau’s Wholefood for the family, she prefers 30% raw sugar and 30% under-ripe or a little green fruit to achieve a soft set.
The holy grail for good jelling is 60-70% sugar.
I haven’t been successful with the 30% ratio…..I’m challenged enough with 50%; I made a wonderful ruby grapefruit marmalade with 50% sugar and the taste of the fruit with the lower sugar is gorgeous.
[…] Then, last August, my friend Celia posted her recipe for making quince jelly on her wonderful blog Fig Jam And Lime Cordial. (If you’re not familiar with her posts, this is your chance. Celia’s blog is one that […]
Both you and John have posted lovely quince-y jam/jelly recipes!
I don’t eat many jams/jellies but I absolutely love quince jelly! Hot crtoss bun with QJ is awesome. Chops glazed, chicken grilled, fruit toast…..mmmmm. Like the cut down of sugar, might give that a shot too. Got some quince slow cooking at the moment, their fragrance is so heady and intense.
I’ve been inspired to try this recipe out with some quinces I was given this week. The jelly looks gorgeous, I can’t wait to try it. Do you have a recipe for using the pulp for paste or a cordial? It seems a shame to waste it. Thanks.
Hi Deb, we’ve tried to make the pulp into quince paste before with only a tiny modicum of success – it’s extremely gritty, and is a bugger to sieve. These days we give the pulp to the worms. :)
Thanks Celia. I boiled it up again and made some tasty cordial. The worms are next on the list. The jelly is absolutely delicious. Much nicer than paste.