Quince Jelly
A month ago, if you were to ask me about quince jelly, I wouldn't even have known what that was. But I had the opportunity to taste it and we were all so pleased that I started to make it at home. It's a kind of jelly you can spread on anything. It's not runny like a classic jam and has no pieces of fruit in it, only their aroma.
Last week, I made a few batches of jelly and one of them from the leftovers after I'd made Quince Jam. I find this brilliant, my heart always aches to throw the leftovers away. But I still wasn't completely satisfied with the result - I only got a small jar, and our cravings are a bit bigger :) I read several recipes and learned that you can combine quince with apples, I played with the sugar and water ratios and I finally deduced the formula. It can be adapted to everyone's tastes and preferences. Last time I made apple and quince jelly - from the quince I only took some pulp to freeze for a future compote and I used everything else.
Important - the texture of the jelly (whether it's soft or hard) depends on the amount of sugar and the boiling time of the syrup. You will be able to see all my recommendations in the steps for guidance.
If you want to make both quince jelly and quince jam, you'll have to core the quince. I don't peel them.
If you only make the jelly, cut the quince into small pieces and place in a pot.
In a large 5 liter pan, place 1.5 kg quince, cut into pieces, or, as you see in the picture, quince combined with apples (I put half-half).
Pour over 3 liters of water and place the pot over heat.
Here you can also toss the halves from the squeezed lemons, reserve the juice for later.
When it comes to the boil, turn down the heat and cook for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, turn off the heat, cover the pot with a lid and let the fruit soak in the water, let the juice infuse properly for 1-2 hours. I once even left a batch sit overnight, I didn't have time to continue.
Then drain through a large sieve.
And then drain again through a finer sieve, so that there are no small residues at all.
Measure, using a measuring cup, how much juice you got after boiling - I had 3 liters.
Now pour the juice into a Dutch oven or a heavy bottomed pan. Add in sugar.
To the 3 liters of juice, I put 2 kg of sugar - so, there were about 650 g of sugar per 1 liter of compote.
If you have other quantities, use this sugar - compote ratio as a guide.
Place the pot over heat, mix well until the sugar dissolves and, when it comes to a boil, make a low heat.
Now pour in the juice squeezed from the 2 lemons.
During cooking (about 1-2 hours), you will notice how the syrup becomes more and more pink. Now start paying more attention to it and do the drops test.
In the picture, you can see 2 extremes:
- on the right, the drops are slightly pink and very scattered - the jelly will be softer and more runny
- on the left, the colour is stronger and the drops are not so scattered - the paste will be harder and thicker.
And here is the version that I like, something in between the two.
If the paste is too thick, it's hard to spread on the pancake/bread (especially if it's from the fridge) and the runny one runs away :)
So, I boil it until the drops have a darker shade of pink and spread slightly on the plate - not like water, nor like thick caramel.
Then, follow the usual procedure - ladle the hot paste into clean/dry jars and close tightly.
Notice here the difference in color of two batches of jelly from quince combined with apple. The one on the left boiled a little longer and it's redder.
Just so you know, the quince + apple paste has a redder shade.
This is the presentation picture. It's jelly made only from quince and has a more orange hue.
Now, make and combine as you like, it's good anyway - we've become big fans :)
Enjoy!
