Content
The healing properties of aromatic tart quince have been known for a long time. It is believed that its first cultural plantings appeared in Asia more than 4 thousand years ago. In addition to vitamins and minerals, quince contains mucus, glycosides, tannins, organic acids, essential oils. It is noteworthy that 100 g of pulp contains 30 mg of iron, which is neither more nor less than the daily rate for an adult. The pharmaceutical industry uses fruits, leaves and even seeds of this plant.
Not everyone will eat this wonderful fruit raw - its pulp is hard, tart, sour, bitter. But during heat treatment, the taste of quince magically changes - it becomes soft, sweet, aromatic. The fruits are baked, stewed, fried, used as a side dish for meat. And delicious quince jam is just one of the great treats you can make. Pastilles, jams, marmalades, compotes, numerous soft drinks - this is not a complete list of sweets made from aromatic tart fruits, popular in many countries.
Quince jam
There are many recipes that are easy to make on your own. We will make the most delicious quince jam. But in order for it to really become a delicacy, you need to remember some important points:
- Quince can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 months, so you can buy it even when you don't have time to make the jam right away. Only fruits should be chosen evenly colored, with intact skin. Quince with greenish spots and spoiled skin will deteriorate quickly.
- Cook for as long as indicated in the recipes. With prolonged cooking, the quince does not soften, but hardens, and you risk getting candied fruits instead of jam.
- In almost all recipes, the weight of the fruit exceeds the amount of sugar. Do not be confused by this - you need to peel the quince, remove the core, you get quite a lot of waste.
- Ripe fruits are smooth, and not fully ripe - covered with pile.
With lemon
It seems, why add lemon to quince jam? She's already sour! But when cooked, the fruits become not only soft, but also sweet. Therefore, almost every recipe for delicious jam contains citric or other acid.
Ingredients
To prepare this delicacy, you will need:
- quince - 2.5 kg;
- sugar - 2 kg;
- water - 1 glass;
- lemon - 1 pc.
You can add some cinnamon to the jam, but not everyone loves it. It happens that even members of the same family cannot agree on whether to use this spice. Part of the finished jam can be mixed with cinnamon before packing in jars, and in order not to confuse, inscribe the lids.
Preparation
Rinse the lemon, grate the zest on a fine grater, squeeze out the juice.
Wash the quince thoroughly. Use an abrasive brush or sponge to remove the lint if you purchased an incompletely ripe fruit. Peel the peel, remove the core.
Cut the quince into slices about 0.5 cm thick, sprinkle with lemon juice, cover with granulated sugar, stir.
Place in a heavy-bottomed stainless or aluminum saucepan. Pour the mixture with water, cover, put on a low heat.
While the quince is quietly boiling, sterilize the jars, boil the lids.
Stir the jam from time to time to prevent it from burning.In total, the quince should be boiled for about an hour and a half. Check the degree of doneness as follows: put a little syrup in a spoon and drip it onto a clean, dry saucer. If the liquid does not spread - the jam is almost ready, no - continue cooking.
Close to the very end, add the grated lemon zest, stir well and continue cooking for another 5 minutes.
Pack the thick, aromatic jam in sterile jars. Some of it can be made with cinnamon. To do this, add the spice to the hot mass and stir well before placing in the container.
Seal the jars, wrap them up with an old blanket, and when they cool, put them away for storage.
The resulting quince jam will be very thick.
With walnuts
Any nuts can be added to quince jam. Everyone will choose the most delicious recipe for themselves and use hazelnuts, almonds, peanuts or even cashews. We will cook quince jam with walnuts. Those who prefer almonds can find out the recipe by watching the video:
Ingredients
To make jam, take:
- quince - 1 kg;
- sugar - 1 kg;
- lemon - 1 pc.;
- water - 0.5 l;
- walnuts - 1 tbsp
Preparation
Boil a syrup with half the water and sugar.
Wash the quince well with a brush or hard sponge. Peel and core it, but do not discard it.
Cut the fruit into slices, cover with the rest of the water and simmer for 10 minutes.
Remove the water from the quince in a separate bowl, pour the syrup over the slices, add the remaining sugar, and let it brew for 3 hours.
Then put the dishes with the jam on a low heat, after boiling, cook for 15 minutes. Remove the saucepan or bowl from heat, let cool. Boil again, cool.
Wash the lemon and peel it. Pour the zest, peel and core of the fruit into a saucepan with the liquid where the quince was first cooked. Boil for 15 minutes and strain.
Cut the lemon pulp into small pieces, peel the walnuts from the shell and partitions. They can be shredded or left as they are, as you wish.
When the jam boils for the third time, pour in the strained broth from the rind, rind and core of the quince fruit. Add walnuts and lemon pulp, stir well. Let it boil for 5 minutes, extinguish the heat and pack in sterile jars.
Cork them, insulate them, and after cooling, put them away for storage.
Jam
Jam with very thick syrup and boiled fruits is called jam. For its preparation, you can even take an overripe, greenish or damaged quince, the main thing is to cut and discard the spoiled parts of the fruit.
Ingredients
To make jam, take:
- quince - 1 kg;
- sugar - 0.8 kg;
- citric acid - 0.25 tsp;
- water.
We do not indicate the exact amount of liquid. Take it so that the pieces of the fruit are completely covered with it.
Preparation
Wash quince, peel, core, cut into small pieces.
Place the fruit in a wide bowl, add water and simmer for 5 minutes at a high boil. Then turn the heat to a minimum, keep the quince on the stove for another 45 minutes, stirring constantly.
Drain the water, return 1.5 cups of liquid to the bowl for making the jam.
Grind the pieces of fruit with a blender. Add sugar, citric acid, put on low heat, cook with constant stirring for half an hour.
The readiness of the jam is not checked in the same way as for the jam. The substance should not drip from the spoon, but fall in pieces.
Pour the jam into sterile jars, tighten the lids, wrap up. After cooling, store in a cool place.
Confiture
Confiture can be called the French brother of jam. But they often do it with the use of thickeners - gelatin or agar-agar. In cooked jam, the chunks remain intact, whereas jam implies that they are completely boiled.Quince itself contains a lot of pectins, and it is not necessary to add gelling agents to it.
Ingredients
To make jam, take:
- quince - 1.5 kg;
- sugar - 1 kg;
- water - 300 ml;
- citric acid - 1 tsp.
Preparation
Wash the quince well with a hard sponge or brush - the peel will still come in handy. Peel the fruit, remove the core. Cut the fruit into small pieces and dip in water with citric acid so that the quince does not darken.
Pour the waste with water, boil for 5 minutes. Strain, add sugar and boil the syrup.
Put the pieces of fruit in there, put on a low heat and cook until the quince becomes transparent.
When the syrup begins to gel, and the pieces of fruit are evenly distributed in it, add citric acid, boil for another 3 minutes.
Pack the jams in jars, roll them up, insulate them. After cooling, store in a cool place.
With pumpkin
Quince jam will acquire a mild, slightly piquant taste thanks to the pumpkin. It will turn out to be unlike anything else and useful. Even those who hate pumpkin in any form will be happy to eat such jam.
Ingredients
You will need:
- quince - 1 kg;
- pumpkin - 0.5 kg;
- sugar - 1.5 kg;
- lemon juice - 30 ml.
This recipe is prepared without water.
Preparation
Wash the quince with a brush or washcloth, peel the peel, remove the center, cut into slices. Try to keep the pieces the same.
Cut off the tough skin of the pumpkin, remove the seeds, cut into slices similar to quince.
Combine the ingredients, sprinkle with lemon juice and cover with sugar, cover with a thin clean cloth or gauze, let it brew for 12 hours to extract juice.
Put the dishes on high heat, bring to a boil with constant stirring. Reduce the temperature to a minimum and cook for half an hour. Remember to stir the jam gently to prevent it from burning.
Pour hot jam into containers, seal, insulate. Store in a cool place after cooling.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are many ways to make delicious quince jam. We've only provided a few recipes, and we hope your family will enjoy them. Enjoy your meal!
