Quince jam

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The garden season is ending, all the fruits have long ripened, collected and harvested for the winter ... but no, not all! Late autumn prepared another gift for gardeners: quince. It looks easy to confuse its fruits with apples, which is not surprising: these crops are relatives. But, having bitten off a piece, you will immediately understand what kind of fruit fell into your hands! Quince pulp is firm, tart and astringent, therefore, it is not eaten raw. But after boiling, the tart fruit acquires an amazing taste, while maintaining its beneficial properties. There are different recipes for quince jam: nuts, lemons, oranges, ginger are added to it. I will tell you a basic recipe, having mastered which, you can invent variations to your liking.

Quince contains a large amount of pectin. These substances, firstly, perfectly cleanse the body; secondly, pectin is the best natural gelling agent - as you will see later, quince jam turns out to be like delicious jelly, and pieces of fruit in it - like marmalade. By the way, the name of the dessert “marmalade” itself comes from the Galician word marmelo, which means “quince” in translation!

The most time consuming step is to peel the fruit. Further, the jam is mainly infused. You only need to periodically boil it.

Time for preparing: active - 1 hour, passive - 3 days
Servings Per Container: approximately 0.8-1 l

Quince Jam Ingredients

1 kg of quince;
1 kg of sugar;
0.5 l of water;
a pinch of citric acid.

The method of preparation of quince jam

Prepare a pan for jam: stainless steel or enameled. Aluminum utensils are not suitable, since when fruits come into contact with metal, an oxidation reaction occurs.

Having thoroughly washed the fruits (especially if a variety with a velvety peel is caught), we cut them into four parts. We cut out a “rocky layer” consisting of solid cells, together with the middle and seeds. If the fruits are so hard that they are difficult to peel, dip the quince in boiling water for five minutes, then catch and cool in cold water.

If you want the jam to look like jelly, do not throw away the peeled peel: it should be boiled in water, on which syrup will then be prepared. Pectin, in large quantities contained in quince peel, will turn into a decoction and provide it with the best gelling properties.

This is how candied fruits are cooked, which I did at the same time as jam. She put the cleaned slices in cold water so as not to oxidize in air, and boil the peel in 500 ml of water under the lid, over low heat, for 20 minutes. Then she caught the peel with a slotted spoon, and into the broth she lowered the whole peeled slices and boiled it on a low light for another 10 minutes.

This is done to give the pieces of fruit elasticity, and syrup - density. If you want to simplify the process of making jam, then boiling the peel and whole quarters can be omitted and immediately proceed to cooking small pieces.

Pour sugar into the water - not all, but half - and, stirring occasionally, bring over medium heat to dissolve the grains and boil.

Cut the brewed quince into cubes or slices of the same thickness and dip in boiling sugar syrup. Bringing it to a boil again, reduce the heat and boil for 5 minutes. Then remove from heat and leave for 3-4 hours to cool completely, ideally - at night.

The next day, add the rest of the sugar to the jam and heat it again over low heat, bringing to a boil. Stir occasionally and carefully so as not to mash the pieces of fruit. With a weak boil, boil for 5 minutes and again set aside for a day.

Then boil a second time - also 5 minutes after boiling, and again leave for insisting.

Each time, the color of the jam becomes more saturated, acquiring a beautiful copper-red hue! It turns out not only delicious, but also very beautiful.

We repeat the procedure for the third time, adding a few grains of citric acid - to fix the color and better preservation. For jam 3 boiling is enough. For candied fruit it is worth repeating also the 4th time.