Quince Paste

Directions

1. Wash, peel, and core the quinces, reserving the cores and peels. Coarsely chop the flesh and transfer the fruit to a large pan. Wrap the cores and peels in cheesecloth, tie the bag with kitchen string, and add it to the pan. (The peels contain most of the fruit's pectin, which contributes to the firmness of the quince paste.)
2. Pour in enough water to cover the quinces and boil, half-covered, for 30 to 40 minutes or until the fruit is very soft. Remove the bag of peels and pass the quince flesh through a sieve or food mill. (For best results, don't use a food processor as it will result in too fine a texture.) You should have about 2 1/2 pounds of fruit pulp.
3. Transfer the quince pulp to a saucepan and add the sugar (ideally, you should add the same amount of sugar, by weight, as the fruit pulp). Cook and stir over low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Continue cooking for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon, until the paste becomes very thick and has a deep orange color. Draw the wooden spoon along the bottom of the saucepan: it should leave a trail and the quince mixture will stick to the spoon.
4. Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish or line it with greased parchment paper. Transfer the quince paste to the baking dish, spreading it about 1 1/2-inch thick. Smooth the top and allow it to cool.
5. Dry the paste on your lowest oven setting, no more than 125 degrees F (52 degrees C), for about 1 1/2 hours. Allow the quince paste to cool completely before slicing. (In Europe, the traditional method of drying the quince paste is to leave it in a cupboard for about 7 days. The remaining juices will continue to evaporate and render a drier paste.)
6. Store quince paste in an airtight container in the refrigerator; the color will deepen with age.

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Reviews (5)

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23

liamko

Oct. 7, 2008

"I have just moved to a new house, and new country, and am blessed with a number of fruit/nut trees, one being a lovely good sized quince, have tried a number of recipes and this one is the simplest I ..." See morehave come across and easily competes with the rest. Thank You. as an added bonus most of the local comunity do not realise the many uses of this fruit for food and as a herbal remedy, always good to bring somthing new to the table, Thank you again"

13

Doughgirl8

Dec. 3, 2009

"This was outstanding! I was so excited to see this recipe on here, because I’m crazy about quince. The first time I tried them, I thought, “Where has this fruit been all my life?!” I think I added too..." See more much water, though, during the quince cooking stage. Next time I’ll add a couple of cups to start with, and add more if needed. From 4½ pounds of whole quince, I got more than 5 lbs of quince puree! Like I said: too much water. It took a long time to cook down. I spread it into a pan and left it in a 100 degree F oven overnight (we have a “bread proof” cycle that was perfect for this). Wonderful! As good as the membrillo we had in Portugual. Perfect with crusty bread and slices of manchego cheese. It made a ton, so I'm giving away slabs as gifts to a select few!"

8

canjln

Jan. 19, 2010

"This recipe was so easy! Someone at work brought some quinces in and didn't know what they were. He stated his grandmother used them all time when he was kid. So I make this paste and served it cracke..." See morers, brie, cheddar cheese and it was the talk on the whole floor. The only problem it call for a lot of sugar. Next time I want to try stevia or splenida. Thanks for sharing."