Anyone made quince jam/jelly?

I think they are fully yellow when ripe and smell very sweet. Sorry I’ve never made the jam.

These aren't furry, more like a cross between a large apple and a pear. Am perservering with the chopping!

I made quince jelly once, about 3 years ago, it turned out fine, but what a faff, it wasn’t used much, so I won be doing it again.

DH used to make Quince jelly and “cheese” (Membrillo) to eat with Manchego . I loved the smell of ripe quince.

Persevere. The jelly is delicious. I have made membrillo but the “bloops” of volcanically hot fruit burnt me so much that I have never made it again.
I have seen the fruit cooked whole, but only as accompaniment to roast meat - I think it was lamb,

My friend makes jam from quinces, (japonica jam), every year, and I am usually the lucky recipient of a couple of jars.

It has a very slight sharpness to it, and keeps well too.

When we had a dog, and a hedge of japonica, the fruit was bone hard. The dog would pick himself one and play all around the garden with it, then leave it full of teeth marks.

I make lots of it from a very productive quince tree. Chop them up as much as you can and add it all to the pan, cover with water, cook until soft. Strain through a jelly bag, reboil the juice with sugar until set and put in pots. It lasts for years, we are still eating 2018 vintage. I like it with lamb, but also use it to add to sauces for various sorts of game. Roast partridge with a splash of port and a spoonful of quince jelly in the sauce is delicious.

Auntieflo

My friend makes jam from quinces, (japonica jam), every year, and I am usually the lucky recipient of a couple of jars.

It has a very slight sharpness to it, and keeps well too.

When we had a dog, and a hedge of japonica, the fruit was bone hard. The dog would pick himself one and play all around the garden with it, then leave it full of teeth marks.

Japonica (Chaenomeles) is flowering quince and makes a good jelly too. I use yellow quince (Cydonia) from a big tree like an apple tree.

Yes, many years ago and it was delicious but I should have checked how to deal with quinces before I started.
I'd assumed they were like apples but they're not; they have a stone in the centre.

Follow Mamie's instructions ?

After hearing Cookery writers waxing lyrical about these mystical perfumed fruits I planted a tree and it cropped abundantly in time. They looked wonderful as the days became shorter but I can't say I ever had a quince that was remotely fragrant. They are very hard and furry and darned hard work to deal with and I can honestly say that despite being a good and imaginative cook, I never managed to produce anything that was remotely good to eat.
Reader, I dug the bugger up and never felt a shred of regret.

Hats off to those of you that can produce anything lovely from quince ??‍♂️

I've never made quince jelly again, GrannyLaine

I don't remember them being furry, though, they were smooth like apples, from a japonica hedge.

I can’t add anything helpful, but the thread makes me nostalgic. My mother used to make quince jelly. Her quinces were her pride and joy.

I wonder if there are different sorts of quince?
The quince from our tree were aromatic and made wonderful jelly and paste. But I also had an ornamental quince or japonica trained up one fence which bore fruit, but hard and not at all scented.
Our gardeners brought me a big bag of quince once after our tree had had to be cut down but again, these were hard, unscented and frankly boring.

Mine was a tree ('Vranja' IIRC) and I did wonder if a different variety might have produced a lovelier fruit. But I'll not be trying another.
This year the have a phenomenal crop of Damsons. So far we have damson gin, damson jelly, pickled damsons, roast damsons and damson cheese (which beats membrillo into a cocked hat and is the most jewel like colour) Pity I can't convert some into biofuel, we'd be sorted for the winter

My post above at 1251 explains the difference between quince and flowering quince (japonica). I have used both but quince eventually "falls" like a cooking apple when cooked.

Thanks to Mamie and others for the tips. The liquid had been dripping through the muslin and have just measured it. There's nearly 2 litres so when I add the sugar and boil it up tomorrow am hoping there will be a few jars. To be continued....

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202209/medium-105688-20220925-112627.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202209/medium-963152-20220926-170257.jpg

Update- I made 6 jars of beautiful deep pink quince jelly and if I can work out how to add photos will attach pics!

granfromafar

Update- I made 6 jars of beautiful deep pink quince jelly and if I can work out how to add photos will attach pics!

Well done. ?. You obviously thought it worthwhile.
I find the jelly tastes slightly of honey, in that fragrant, flowery way, but is much more sour (which I like).

I feel you should eat it with a runcible spoon ?‍♀️

Japonica (Chaenomeles) is flowering quince and makes a good jelly too. I use yellow quince (Cydonia) from a big tree like an apple tree

Oops! Thank you Mamie - should have read the whole thread! That exactly bears out what I thought. .

So glad it worked well.
I know a bit about quince because in our last house here in Normandy we had a big quince tree that delivered some massive crops. I used to give the surplus to my neighbour to sell at the local market. One year we made 80€. ?
They are a very ancient fruit and are called les coings in French and the tree is le cognassier (a word that I always struggle to remember for some reason).
We have made marmalade and membrillo, but I think the jelly works best. I have never tried the alcohol though!

We make quince jelly every year, and devour the fragrant results with cheese and great lip-smacking. When draining the cooked quince mush, recipes always warn against trying to extract more juice by squeezing - and just accept what drips naturally through the bag. Being of a naturally greedy persuasion, one year I set aside the bowl with the 'natural dripped' extract and extracted almost the same amount of juice by squeezing and wringing as hard as I could. We sugared, boiled and bottled ('jarred' - is that a word?) the two batches entirely separately, and found that the 'squeezed' batch was every bit as crystal-clear as the 'classic' batch, and only a little less flavourful. Worth a try if you have a limited supply of quinces - and a large appetite.

Lucca

I feel you should eat it with a runcible spoon ?‍♀️

I would if I had one! It tastes delicious and had some with cheese and crackers today. Not sure if I would go to the bother again but glad that I made it. Had planned to give some away to family for Christmas gifts but but end up eating it all ourselves!