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 07/05/21
Quince jam in jar with fruit, close up

Westend61 / Getty Images
Prep: 10 mins
Cook: 90 mins
Straining: 2 hrs
Total: 3 hrs 40 mins
Yield: 4 half-pint jars
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
3148 Calories
2g Fat
812g Carbs
6g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Amount per serving
Calories 3148
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 2g 3%
Saturated Fat 0g 1%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 88mg 4%
Total Carbohydrate 812g 295%
Dietary Fiber 15g 53%
Total Sugars 764g
Protein 6g
Vitamin C 303mg 1,514%
Calcium 172mg 13%
Iron 3mg 17%
Potassium 1652mg 35%
*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 develops in the final stages of cooking.

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Ingredients

  • 3 1/2 pounds quinces (about 4 large fruits)

  • 7 cups water

  • 3 1/2 cups sugar

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients.

  2. Wash quinces and cut off stem ends. Leave peels on. Core fruit by chopping around cores. Compost or discard stems and cores.

  3. Chop fruit into large chunks, 6 to 8 pieces per quince.

  4. Place quince in a large pot. Pour in water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer until fruit is soft, about 1 hour.

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

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

  7. 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 water directly to strained juice or it will be too diluted).

  8. Sterilize canning jars in boiling water. While jars are sterilizing, measure juice. Pour quince juice into a large pot. Add 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of sugar per cup of juice.

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

  10. Ladle into sterilized half-pint canning jars, leaving 1/2-inch space at the top. Screw on canning lids.

  11. Process in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes. Remove jars of quince jelly from boiling water bath and allow them to cool completely.

Tip

  • 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.