Quince Jam
Desserts Jam and Preserves Breakfast
Quince pieces in syrup flavored with cardamom and rose buds. It's a jam with a splendid color, in which I used the quince with the skin on. And if you don't cut the quinces into very small pieces, they will keep their shape until the end of cooking. In terms of texture and intensity of flavors, it seemed to me similar to my plum jam.
Quince jam is good on bread with butter or cream cheese (robiola), with blue cheese, feta, Manchego cheese, plain yogurt, or Petit Suisse. In the main photo, it's shown as I served it for breakfast, with Petit Suisse cheese rolled in toasted pistachios.
Ingredients
1.2 kg quinces
650g sugar
900ml water
1/2 lemon
10 green cardamom pods
3 dried rose buds (or 1 teaspoon rose water; optional)
Yield: 4 jars of 400ml
How to prepare quince jam
- Choose quinces that are as yellow as possible, with skin free of spots or bruises and as little fuzz as possible. Wash well. Do NOT peel the quinces. Cut each quince into 6-8 pieces and then clean the core area from each piece. Keep the seeds. Each cleaned piece is then cut into smaller pieces (about 4-5 pieces from each slice). As you cut them, put the pieces in water (the 900ml) in which you've squeezed the lemon juice.
- Put the pot on heat (quinces with all the water, but the water should just cover them perfectly; if there's more, you can drain some off) and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 5 minutes, until you test a piece with a fork and see that it's soft.
- With a slotted spoon, remove the quinces from the water and add the sugar instead. Simmer on low heat just until the sugar is completely dissolved. Stir rarely, only if necessary.
- Add the quinces back into the syrup along with the seeds. Bring to a boil, reduce to low heat so it just gently bubbles across the entire surface of the pot. Simmer like this, without needing to stir, for about 1.5 hours. During this time, the syrup will turn orange and the quince pieces will too, bit by bit. After the time is up, the syrup should have an intense orange color, and if you have a thermometer, the syrup should reach 103°C. 10 minutes before removing the pot from heat, add the cardamom pods crushed with the flat side of a knife to expose the seeds, and the rose buds.
* the quince seeds and aromatics (cardamom, roses) can be put in cheesecloth so you can remove them more easily. - Remove the pot from heat and take out the aromatics.
- Pour the quince jam into jars sterilized for 20 minutes in the oven at 200°C. Wipe the jar mouth with a damp napkin and screw on the lids. Put the jars back in the oven and leave them for 15 minutes.
Turn the jars upside down (resting on the lid) and leave like this for 10 min. to create a vacuum. Wrap the still-hot jars in a blanket and let them cool like this overnight (dry steam method). - Store in a cool place, in a cellar or pantry.
Rose buds
Jam cooking
Jam after 30 minutes of cooking
Jam after 1 hour
Jam after 1 hour and 20 minutes
Jam is ready
Quince jam on yogurt with pistachios and rose petals
