Quince Jelly

Written by
Leda Meredith
Leda Meredith is a food writer and certified botanist who has written five books on foraging and preserving food.
Learn about The Spruce Eats' Editorial Process
Leda Meredith
Updated 06/11/19
Quince jam in jar with fruit, close up
Westend61/Getty Images
  • Total: 100 mins
  • Prep: 10 mins
  • Cook: 90 mins
  • Straining time: 2 hrs
  • Yield: 4 half pint jars (32 servings)
Nutritional Guidelines (per serving)
86 Calories
0g Fat
22g Carbs
0g Protein
See Full Nutritional Guidelines Hide Full Nutritional Guidelines
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4 half pint jars (32 servings)
Amount per serving
Calories 86
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0g 0%
Saturated Fat 0g 0%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 1mg 0%
Total Carbohydrate 22g 8%
Dietary Fiber 0g 0%
Protein 0g
Calcium 6mg 0%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

Looking at a raw quince you would never guess that this ugly duckling fruit could turn into such an exquisite jelly. A fruit popular in antiquity in the Mediterranean and Mesopotamian plain, it was a sacred emblem of the goddess Aphrodite.

A raw quince is a lumpy, yellow fruit that looks something like a misshapen pear with flesh like a super hard apple. Raw quinces are inedible, but when cooked, quinces yield a delicately aromatic juice with a unique rosy color. Quince is a member of the rose family, not unlike apples and pears.

Quinces are naturally high in pectin, so you will not need to add pectin in order to get a good jell from the juice. A wonderful blush color of the jelly develops in the final stages of cooking.

Ingredients

  • 3 1/2 pounds quinces (about 4 large fruits)
  • 7 cups water
  • 3 1/2 cups sugar (granulated)

Steps to Make It

  1. Wash the quinces and cut off the stem ends. Leave the peels on. Core the fruit by chopping around the cores. Compost or discard the stems and cores. Chop the fruit into large chunks, 6 to 8 pieces per quince.

  2. Place the quince in a large pot. Pour in the water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer until the fruit is mushy-soft (about 1 hour).

  3. Mash the cooked quince with a potato masher. If the mashed fruit is on the dry side, add a little more water. You want a consistency like soupy applesauce.

  4. Place a colander lined with a double layer of cheesecloth, or a very finely meshed strainer, over a large bowl or pot. Ladle the runny quince mash into the strainer or cheesecloth-lined colander. Leave it for 2 hours. Save the mash to make quince paste.

  5. You should end up with at least 4 cups of juice. If you are not getting much juice, stir a little more water into the mash in the cheesecloth-lined colander or the strainer (do not add the water directly to the strained juice or it will be too diluted).

  6. Sterilize the canning jars in boiling water.

  7. While the jars are sterilizing, measure the juice. Pour the quince juice into a large pot. Add 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar per cup of juice.

  8. Bring to a boil over high heat. Stir constantly at first until the sugar is completely dissolved. Stir occasionally after that until the ​gel point.

  9. Ladle into sterilized half-pint canning jars, leaving 1/2-inch space at the top. Screw on canning lids. Process in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes. Remove the jars of quince jelly from the boiling water bath and allow them to cool completely.

Making Jelly for the First Time

If you are new to jelly making, know that the jelly will still be completely liquid when the jars come out of the boiling water bath. It will become a jelly consistency as it cools.