Making quince jam
Which brings me to how I ended up with 10lbs (4.5kg) of quince. Ben and I were at the farmer’s market on the weekend when we saw boxes of the unsightly-looking fruit. We’d never bought quince before. In fact, the only reason we even paused was that when we were in France last May, we stayed at Le Manoir de la Maison Blanche in Amboise, where they served delicious homemade jams with our breakfast baguette. One of the jams, of course, was quince.
Memories of France, combined with my new commitment to local eating (and cooking!) somehow convinced me that buying mountains of quince was a good idea. We would make jam. It would be fun, and the results would be delicious. I could be one of those (increasingly few) people who brought a jar of homemade jam when dropping in for a visit. Nevermind that the only thing I knew about jam-making was based on a novel called Blue Jelly (subtitled “Love Lost and the Lessons of Canning”). But, I thought, how hard can it be? My grandpa used to pickle eggs. Surely jam was easier.
I don’t know about eggs, but jam was easy. And we haven’t died of botulism. Yet. Here’s how we did it:
Quince Jam
5 lbs of quince + sugar to taste (about 2 cups) + water + 1 tbsp lemon juice = YUM
cores intact. Apparently the cores have a lot of natural pectin (a good
thing, since it contributes to “jelling” or setting). Then we boiled
them for 20 minutes in just enough water (sorry, that’s not very
specific. I guess they were covered by about an inch or two of water).
that you can make two products in one go!) Then we removed the cores
from the still-hot fruit and chucked it into the food processor.
After
blending until it was the consistency of chunky applesauce, the whole
lot went back into the pot, along with two cups of the saved quince
liquid, about two cups of sugar, and a tablespoon of lemon juice.
At
this point, I was feeling like a bit of a homesteader (perhaps a tad
hyperbolic – but I’m a city gal, and canning is so old school). Ben
took this photo of me barefoot, pregnant, and slaving over a hot store.
Except I’m not barefoot. I’m stirring. And stirring. You’ve got to keep
the fruit moving, lest it brown and stick to the pot. Bring the fruit
to a boil and let ‘er rip for about 20 minutes, or until the setting point is reached.
Next,
we spooned the fruit into sterilized jars, threw some lids and rings
on, and then boiled the jars in my mom’s old canning pot for 10 minutes.
The result: eight jars of lovely, thick quince jam. Invite me around for tea and I might just bring you a jar.
14 Comments »
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Hi Andrea, congratulations on your bump!
Quince is a tricky fruit to work with, as I have discovered, but it is well worth it. I think you need to boil in more than 20 minutes to make jam. Did you use a recipe specifically for quince–I boil it for a long time and it turns a rosy pink. I like the jelly the best because of the pectin content it sets up quite nicely.
Comment by Lori W. — January 17, 2008 @ 9:21 am
oooohhhhhh.
lovely.
come around for tea anytime…
…i want to try the jam.
r.
Comment by robin — January 17, 2008 @ 10:08 am
Hi Lori -
You might be right. My jam is pretty thick, but it’s almost more like conserves. Still yummy though! I have 5lbs more quince that I will try a different method on.
Robin – you’re on! I will bring some over for our Sex and the City night.
Comment by Andrea — January 17, 2008 @ 3:27 pm
I KNEW you’d start cooking before long!
I don’t know, it seems to me that gardening and cooking go together like-
rice & beans
peas & carrots
vanilla & hot fudge
braised short ribs & polenta
okay, I’m hungry now… gotta go …
Comment by germi — January 17, 2008 @ 4:18 pm
great blog!
Comment by cynthia korzekwa — January 18, 2008 @ 12:38 am
Wasn’t Animal, Vegetable, Mineral a great book!?! It has also inspired me to eat more locally and to preserve more of what I grow. I have a tendency to enjoy the summer harvest–but do little to preserve for the winter.
Happy cooking!
–Robin (Bumblebee)
Comment by Robin (Bumblebee) — January 18, 2008 @ 5:27 pm
Germi – you got me! Canning is addictive, too (I’m working on my second batch as I type this). It has similar qualities to baking, which I do enjoy. Just a matter of keeping at it, I suppose!
Cynthia – thanks! And double thanks for the mention on your blog. :)
Robin – Totally an inspirational book. I tell everyone about it. I’m becoming a little bit evangelical, actually!
Comment by Andrea — January 20, 2008 @ 10:19 pm
Thank you for the recipe; my epicurean friends loved the preserves with goat cheese and lime cordial.
Can I mention my good friends, Walter and Lauren of Snowy Mountain Farm in Cawston, BC who grew the organic quince? They sell year round in Vancouver at most of the weekend markets.
Comment by Patti Kelly — October 18, 2008 @ 10:02 am
Great recipe!
Where can you buy the jars? Do you have to put certain amount of sugar for long time preserve?
To boil the fresh, you have to continue stirring, otherwise it will stick to the bottom of the pot, right.
Comment by Cindy — October 30, 2008 @ 2:05 pm
Patti – I wonder if I bought my quince from them!
Cindy – you can buy canning jars at most supermarkets. Sugar, as well as proper canning methods, helps preserve the jam. Yep, just stir frequently as it’s bubbling away. Enjoy!
Comment by Andrea Bellamy — October 30, 2008 @ 10:01 pm
Read the whole procedure to make the quince
jam,but I see you used a food processor.
Well I do not have one,however I have my Kenwood liquidizer.If I use the liquidizer,it will turn out like “mashed potatoes” which it would hardly result in the same consistency.
What say you to that?
Advance thanks.
Comment by Kathleen — May 2, 2009 @ 5:45 am
I live in South Wales in the bungalow my Gran left behind. She’d told me about the quince bush in the garden, and that you could make jam from the fruit. Well this year I decided to go for it and came across your site. Maybe it’s a British variety, but my quinces are somewhat stouter and uglier than yours, but the flesh inside is good. Mine didn’t take long to boil either. In fact the fruit pulped itself in the pot! My advice to anyone using the UK quince is the core them first, but put the cores and seeds into a muslin bag in the pot, getting the pectin, but not the nasty bits should the fruit over-soften. I ended up boiling the jam for at least 40 mins til it went red and it passed the crinkle test. Very pleased with the results. Now for the jelly!
Comment by Tim — October 21, 2009 @ 2:19 am
Great stuff! I had a similarly experimental mood last year, when I found a few quince trees. Since the owners weren’t interested in the fruit, I picked 2kg of quinces. These are a much smaller, but very aromatic, dwarf variety. I made this into a large batch of jelly – simply cook, pulp, and strain.
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=quince&w=38684538%40N00
This year I tried a quince marmelade. Just let it cook, then pulp – pips, core, and peel included.
Both the quince marmelade and the jelly taste excellent on aged cheeses, and cured ham. Also wonderful stuff for pies, desserts, or simply on a slice of toasted bread.
- hv
Comment by Robert — December 23, 2009 @ 4:45 pm
Hi, I can recommend seasoning the jam with spices. I used 1/2 vanillapod (sliced in two), 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 3 cloves and 6 whole cardamom. Made jam of 6 large quinces, juice from one lemon, 450 grams sugar and 4 desilitre of water. Cooked on low heat for 1 hour, then poured into sterilised jars. Wonderful now in the wintertime!
Comment by Trude — February 5, 2010 @ 10:23 am