Candied Quince. Step-by-step Recipe With Photo

2023 Author: Ava Durham | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 07:13

Outside the window - late autumn, gray clouds, fog … But what is it that shines so golden among the branches, despite the cloudy day? These are quince fruits that glow like tiny suns! You look - and immediately it becomes joyful, as if a piece of summer has taken refuge in your garden. Do you want to keep this pleasant feeling for the whole winter? Let's cook candied quince! This healthy and tasty dessert, similar to Turkish delight or marmalade, retains a summer fruity taste and aroma. And how wonderfully the amber-copper slices shine in the sun in light sweet muslin powdered sugar! It seems that inside each piece is a small light.

Let's treat yourself to homemade candied quince fruits, which are much healthier than store sweets. The process of their preparation is quite lengthy, but completely uncomplicated. Most of the time it takes to infuse the fruit in the syrup to ensure it has the right texture.

You can catch all the pieces of fruit - then there will be more candied fruits, and leave the syrup and eat like jam.

• Cooking time: 50 minutes + 4x5 minutes, waiting time - 3-4 days
• Servings: 300 g of candied fruits and about 450 ml of jam.

Ingredients for candied quince

• Quince - 1 kg;
• Sugar - 1 kg;
• Water - 500 ml;
• Citric acid - 1 g;
• Powdered sugar - 5-6 tbsp.

Method of making candied fruits from quince

Wash the fruit thoroughly, especially if you got a sort of quince with a "suede" peel. The fact is that for candied fruits we also need quince skin: in it the concentration of pectin, which is responsible for gelling, is even higher than in the pulp. Therefore, by cutting the fruit into quarters and removing the cores with seeds and stony layers, we also peel the peel, but do not throw it away!

For the time being, we immerse the peeled fruit quarters in a bowl of cold water so that the fruit does not darken in the air - due to the high iron content, quince oxidizes even more than apples.

Pour water into dishes - enameled or stainless steel; an aluminum pan will not work - the fruit will oxidize in it, and this is undesirable. Pour the peel into the water and boil the peelings over low heat under the lid (so that the water does not evaporate too much) for 20 minutes.

Now the peel can be removed with a slotted spoon and discarded. And put whole quince quarters into the broth. We will grind them later, cutting them into pieces of the same size as you want candied fruits. And now you should boil the whole slices: having been saturated with the decoction from the peel, they will acquire a stronger structure. In the future, the quince pieces will not boil up, but will be elastic and neat, as befits candied fruits.

Boil quince pieces over low heat for 10-15 minutes. Then we take them out with a slotted spoon and put them in a colander to cool.

Meanwhile, pour half of the sugar into the broth and continue to cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the grains dissolve.

The cooled slices - so that you can take them without burning yourself - are cut into pieces for candied fruits. It can be cubes 1.5x1.5 cm or small slices 0.5 cm thick. The main thing is to try to keep the pieces of the same size: then they will be ready at the same time.

Put the pieces into the sugar syrup and bring to a boil. Carefully, so as not to crush the soft slices, mix and boil on a small flame for 5 minutes from the moment of boiling. We turn it off and leave it until tomorrow. Do not rush: the longer the fruit is infused in the syrup, the better the candied fruit will be. Therefore, you need to let them cool completely for at least 3 - 4 hours, but it is better to leave it overnight.

In the morning, pour the second half of the sugar into a saucepan and put on a low heat. Heat until boiling, boil for 5 minutes and turn off. We leave again for several hours or a day.

We repeat the procedure 3-4 times. During the last call, add a pinch of citric acid. For jam, three boiling is enough, for candied fruits 4 is better: with each boiling, the syrup becomes thicker, and the quince pieces in it become denser.

The syrup acquires not only density, but also an increasingly intense color, delighting the eye with shades of red-red autumn foliage! This is how it looks after the 4th boil.

Turning off the heat, catch the quince pieces from the syrup with a slotted spoon.

Put on a plate and leave to drain the remaining syrup from the fruit. And the syrup that remained in the pan can be rolled up like jam, or you can eat a bite of tea instead of honey. If the syrup is thick, like jelly, this is an excellent independent dessert. And it is good to soak cake layers and biscuits with liquid syrup.

After a few hours, we transfer the candied fruits to another clean plate. Let them stand in a dry, warm place at room temperature. We repeat 3-4 times for a couple of days.

At the final stage of cooking, it is important to catch the moment when the candied fruits are no longer too wet and have dried to the desired condition in order to be well stored - but still sticky enough so that the powdered sugar does not fall off when crumbling.

Try to roll a couple of things: if after a while the powder on the candied fruits dissolves, it means it's too early, you need to let them dry again. If a thin layer of powder holds well, we roll candied fruits in it on all sides and lay it in one layer on a sheet of parchment paper.

Candied quince fruits are already ready, you can try! But, if you want not to eat everything at once, but save some for the winter, you need to dry them a little more. I do not advise putting candied fruits in the oven to speed up the process: there is a risk of overdrying. It is better to keep it warm and dry for another day or two - for example, on the refrigerator or on the cabinet in the kitchen.

We store dried candied quince fruits at room temperature in a dry, hermetically sealed food container - small jars for baby food or monpensier, glass or plastic, are ideal.