Quince Preserves

My family lived in Tashkent, Uzbekistan for some time. Quince is in abundance there. It looks similar to a pear, has a fragrant aroma but tastes awful in its raw form. It is primarily used to make preserves.

In the recent years I started seeing quince for sale in the fall at local co-ops. And this fall I decided to make preserves with it. My mother was eager to lead. So far we have made this recipe three times and have been enjoying quince preserves with yogurt, on a toast and by itself with a cup of tea. The ingredients list is simple: quince, sugar and water. We use 1 to 1 ratio of sugar and fruit. The process of making quince preserves is a bit more labor intensive than others. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

2.5 lb of peeled, seeded and cut into cubes quince (comes from 4.5 lbs of fruit)
2.5 lb of sugar
2 cups of water
peels from quince to make syrup

Preparation:


Step 1: Make the syrup. Put peels in a small pot and add 2 cups of cold water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium low and simmer until peels are soft (about 5 minutes). Take off the heat and pour through a strainer. Reserve 2 cups of liquid. Pour it into a big pot and add 2.5 lb of sugar, stir. Let sugar dissolve completely on medium heat. Stir constantly to prevent burning.

Step 2: Add quince to the syrup and bring to a boil, take off the burner. Return back to the burner, bring to a boil again and then reduce heat to medium low/low and let simmer, removing the foam from the top and stirring for about 35-40 minutes until quince become translucent and there is no more foam. Quince will become more red as it cooks. Let preserves cool off uncovered and transfer into clean jars. Keep refrigerated.