I make - Quince Jelly

Or gelée de coing, as known in our household. Quince is a fruit I came to know after I married a French man. The first time I discovered this knobbly looking thing was from a quince tree planted in my father-in-law's garden. Attracted by its wonderful green-apple like smell, I asked my father-in-law what that was. He replied: coing (followed by a string of other words). Of course my French vocabulary was not that good then, I nodded and smiled, mostly by its cute sound.

Then I discovered its incredible complexion transformation from raw to fully cooked. This deep rusty amber red color is only revealed after long hours of cooking, matching perfectly its harvest season.

It didn't take long for me to realize gelée de coing has a special place in hubby's heart. But making gelée de coing is a labor intensive process which can take two days. Raw quinces are hard and take some effort to work with. Making the gelée, well, if you've made jam, you probably know it can't be rushed. I don't make gelée de coing every year because of that.

Remember the pressure cooker I acquired this summer? Well, it might be a game changer for me, at least for gelée de coing. It used to take me hours to get this autumnal rusty red color with conventional stove top cooking. I found out that pressure cooking for 10-15 minutes is sufficient to reveal its glorious color. How good is that!

I decided to write down the recipe I used this time as this produces a particularly good batch of gelée. I can't bear throwing food away so this recipe intends to enjoy quinces two ways, eating the fruit as compote and gelée. You can discard the solids (flesh, pips and peels) after the first stage of cooking if you just want gelée.

Gelée de coing et Compote de coings

- 1.8-2.0 kg of quinces (6-8 quinces, size dependent)
- 1.0-1.5 liter of water
- Equal amount (in weight) of sugar for the quince juice extracted; extra sugar for the compote
- Juice from 1-2 lemons, to taste
- 7 bonne maman jam jars, sterilized and ready to use

Clean the quinces by scrubbing the skin with a sponge to remove its fuzz. Wash and towel dry the scrubbed quinces. Top and tail each quince and cut into quarters or sixths. Remove the cores and peel the quince wedges. Save the pips and peels in a separate mesh bag.

Cut and peeled quince wedges

Pips and peels before putting into mesh bags

Put all the quince wedges and the pip bag in a pressure cooker, pour in 1.0-1.5 liter of water. The goal is to extract 1 liter of quince juice for the jelly. Put the lid back and cook for 10-15 minutes at full pressure, followed by a natural release method. Let the cooker content cool down completely before next step. I usually leave it overnight.

When the pressure has cooled down, remove the lid (the content should be in gloriously amber color) and scoop out the quince wedges, discard the pip bag and strain the juice. If you want to make the compote, scatter 1 cup of sugar (or to taste) onto the quince wedges. Stir gently and let it macerate overnight. Keep the juice if you just want the jelly.

Quince juice

For each liter of quince juice, add one kilo of sugar and juice from 1 lemon. Bring the pot back to gentle boil until it has reached a setting point (15-30 minutes). I taste again my jelly towards the end to see whether I need extra lemon juice. When the jelly is approaching the setting point, the foam will start to form on the top. When it passes the jelling test, pour into sterilized jars.

This recipe produces jelly enough for 7 bonne maman jars, each of 300ml.