Quince is a common fruit in the Caucasus and Transcaucasia. It does not grow in central Russia, but it cannot be called a rarity either. From October until the end of winter, it is sold in supermarkets. Everyone knows the yellow fruit, similar to a pear, with a slightly shaggy peel. They are added to various dishes, used in the preparation of jam, marmalade, jam and sauces for meat.
Anyone who wants to try a fresh quince, will be disappointed. It is woody and knitting. But after heat treatment, quince reveals its taste. Jam from it turns out delicious, fragrant and very beautiful amber color. The main thing is that the hardness of the fruit helps to keep the shape of the pieces in the syrup.
Little secrets
The quince looks like a pear, but to its taste and chemical composition it stands out. Both the fruits and the seeds of the quince have medicinal qualities. The fruit contains several dozen seeds, of which anti-bacterial decoctions are made for ulcers, problems with the gastrointestinal tract. The seeds contain a lot of mucus and pectin, which makes the jam dense and thick. When cooking, along with the seeds, the jam is made in dark amber color.
The color, texture and taste of the finished dish depends on how much the jam is brewed and what ingredients are used. Many use the natural density of quince to preserve the pieces entirely. They are saturated with syrup, become translucent, but do not fall apart.
The color of the jam can be light amber or dark, almost red, but always very beautiful.
The color is affected by the duration of cooking (the longer, the darker), the use of seeds in the process (they give a saturated color) and the presence of lemon juice or citric acid (brightens).
The most common recipe for quince jam is the following: boil the slices until cooked with sugar in a 1: 1 ratio by weight. Further nuances depend on the way you will prepare the jam. The basis can be slices or cubes, syrup or sugar. You can pre-blanch quince pieces, as you like.
Classic recipe with step by step photos
Prepare the classic quince jam. On its basis, you can cook a lot of other blanks and show your culinary talent in this way. Cooking time of this jam is 1 hour. But this does not mean that 60 minutes will pass from the beginning to the end of cooking. The preparation goes through several stages, after each of which it needs to be soaked. In total, this process takes 2-3 days.
Composition:
- Quince (in purified form) - 1 kg;
- granulated sugar - 1 kg;
- citric acid (powder) - pinch;
- water - 2 cups.
Calories per 100 g: 274 kcal.
Cooking:
Cut the quince into small slices, removing the peel from them.
Place slices in very cold water so as not to darken.
Cover the peel with water and boil for 10-15 minutes. Then remove it and strain the broth.
Slices need to be blanched in the same broth. To do this, add citric acid and the slices are placed in boiling broth for 2-4 minutes. Who likes hard pieces, this and the next item can be skipped.
Remove the slices and after cooling cool them into cubes.
After that, in the broth, in which the quince skin was boiled, it is necessary to add granulated sugar and mix thoroughly. The result is a syrup in which pieces of fruit will be cooked.
Boil the sugar syrup and put there cooked, diced pieces of quince. It is necessary to boil the jam, reduce the heat and cook for 5-7 minutes.
In order for the syrup to completely soak the quince, you need to leave the jam overnight in the room. After that, pour the remaining sugar into the jam. Bring to a boil again and cook for five minutes. Leave to cool for a day or a few hours.
Repeat the procedure for the third time. The amount of jam will decrease and become reddish.
Jam must be laid out hot in sterilized jars. They need to close the screw-on or plastic covers.
How to cook quince delicacy with slices
One of the variants of quince jam - with slices of peel and seeds, which not only make the medicinal jam, but also give it a rich color and a special aroma. Seeds do not need to be removed after boiling, they are felt in the jam as cedar or other nuts.
This consistency is obtained by steaming quince seeds in syrup, which contain a lot of pectin. Pectin is in the peel.
Cooking time: 2 to 4 days.
Composition:
- ripe quince - 1.2 kg;
- granulated sugar - 1 kg;
- citric acid - 0.5 tsp.
Calories per 100 g: 265 kcal.
Cooking:
- Cut the quince into slices without peeling. Seed chambers are not thrown away, but put in a jar, they will be useful to us at the end of cooking. If the quince is plenty, then peeled and cut lobules should be put in a basin with cold water to prevent browning.
- This stage can be missed by those who love strong, undigested pieces in syrup. Blanching for quince is used by many. This fruit has a high hardness of the fruit, so you can pour it with boiling water, but not boil it. Or another option: boil a little in acidified water for 2-5 minutes. This procedure will allow you to soak the pieces with syrup much faster.
- Freshly sliced or blanched slices should be covered with sugar and then citric acid should be poured there. This is done to ensure that the quince made juice. Then you do not need to cook a separate syrup of sugar and water, and the jam itself will be thicker and more concentrated. It is not necessary to pour all the sugar at once. For a start, it will be enough that the slices are slightly covered with sugar. The pelvis should be left overnight or a little more so that the quince is soaked.
- Boil the jam for periods of 3–5 minutes after boiling, then turn off and infuse for 12–24 hours. So repeat 3 times. Put the rest of sugar during the second boil.
- Put the seeds in the jam during the last boil.
- Spread the finished product hot on sterilized jars.
Jam turns bright, rich red-amber color. The slices are strong, translucent, similar to candied fruits. Seeds give the jam extra flavor and spice.
Quince jam with walnuts
This is a festive version of jam. Dense, fragrant quince pieces are combined with walnut halves soaked in syrup. Cooked such a jam is the same as the basic version, only in the process of cooking you need to add nuts to it.
Cooking time: 2-4 days depending on the breaks between cooking.
Composition:
- quince (peeled and chopped) - 1 kg;
- sugar - 0.8 kg;
- water - 1 cup;
- lemon juice - 1.5 tablespoons;
- walnuts - 1 cup.
Caloric content per 100 g of product: 398 kcal.
Cooking:
- Quince is peeled and cut into slices, and then into cubes. Cubes are filled with 2 cups of sugar. As long as the juice is extracted from the quince, you can proceed to the next step.
- Walnuts are cleaned and cut at will into large or small pieces. You can leave the halves.
- From the peel, seed, glass of water brewed broth for 25-30 minutes.
- In the filtered broth residues of sugar are added and the syrup is boiled, lemon juice is also poured there.
- The syrup is poured on a quince with sugar and put on fire. After boiling it is aged on the fire for no more than 5 minutes, then it is soaked for a day after adding walnuts.
- The procedure is repeated 2 more times, after which the jam is poured into the jars.
Quince jam in a slow cooker
In order to cook delicious jam in a slow cooker, you need to take into account its features. To prepare this way, fruits do not need to be blanched. The cut pieces are cut with the peel.
Cooking time: 2 days.
Composition:
- quince (peeled and chopped) - 1 kg;
- sugar - 0.8 kg;
- lemon juice - 1.5 tablespoons.
Caloric content per 100 g of product: 276 kcal.
Cooking:
- Cut the quince into cubes or slices.
- Pour sugar, pour lemon juice and leave for a day, constantly stirring.
- Put the contents into the bowl of the multicooker and set the mode "Quenching" for 20 minutes.
- Leave in a closed multicooker until cool.
- Spread out on the banks.
The value of this recipe is in its simplicity. It takes a minimum of effort.
Useful tips
- There are several secrets to making quince jam as dense as marmalade. In the quince a lot of pectin, but especially - in the peel and seeds. It provides a field for culinary creativity. You can boil the seeds for half an hour and on the basis of this broth to prepare a syrup. Another way is to put the seeds in the jam itself instead of nuts. Another way would be a decoction of the rind for the syrup. For the same reason, you do not need to remove the skin from the quince slices.
- To slices or slices become translucent, like candied fruits, you need to cook the jam for no more than five minutes, and then insist from several hours to days. This procedure is done 3-4 times.
- When insisting the jam between boils, the pelvis is covered with a cloth or paper.
- If you want to keep a light shade of jam, add citric acid (0.5 teaspoon per 1 kg of sugar) or freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 tablespoons per 1 kg of sugar). Quince in the jam will not darken, but will have a light amber color.
- If you do not boil the syrup, but fill the pieces with sugar, leave the container to soak for no more than 12 hours. This is best done at night. The fact is that quince can give more juice than you need, and become hard even after cooking.
