Got about 14lb of them, do they need crab apples added for the pectin or have they got their own ?? Its jam i'm thinking of making.
Mrs Scrungee doesn't add pectin when making quince jelly. They're high in pectin according to my wine books - aren't you going to save any for that? I'm due to bottle some this week that I made last October which tasted/smelt very good when it was put away to mature. Looking at the date when I made it, they seem about 3 weeks earlier this year.
Can I make wine and jam, just using the water from them ? Take it I will need some pectolayse for the wine then.
I rinse the fruits, grate as close to the core a possible, and boil 1lb flesh/gall of wine for 15 mins (method as standard quince recipes), strain the liquid onto the sugar and add 1 litre carton of white grape juice (85p for 'Sungrown' at Tescos) and 1 litre of carton apple juice (56p for 1.5 litres at Lidl on special last weekend), pectolase, nutrient, acid and pinch of tannin . Basically it's this wine easy white with added quince flavour & fragrance. I found wine made from recipes using 20 quinces/gall and nothing else rather overpowering and too fruit intensive. I picked just over 10 lbs this morning and hope that's enough for 5 or 6 galls as I can't remember what percentage of them is flesh.
Might just make the jam then Scrunge, running out of time with all the other stuff going on at the moment, bags of Apples need sorting too.
I'm a bit late to this but, for quince jelly ..... Scrub your quince and, without peeling or coring, just chop them into smallish chunks, throw the chunks into a pan with just enough water to cover them, bring to the boil, turn down the heat and allow to simmer until soft and pulpy. There's no real 'this will take 'x' amount of time', since it depends on how big the chunks are - when I get fed up with waiting, I sometimes 'help' them along with the judicious use of a potato masher thingy! Once soft, strain through a jelly bag and allow to drip overnight. Next day, measure the juice, pour into a preserving pan and allow 1 lb of ordinary granulated sugar, to each 1pt of juice - I usually add the juice of 1 lemon to this and then the finely pared rind tied in a bit of muslin, you don't need to do this, but I just think it adds a bit of acidity to the flavour. Stir over a low heat until the sugar is dissolved then boil rapidly until you reach setting point, then pot etc. NB - it depends on the quinces, but sometimes setting point is reach within about 5 mins, so it's worth keeping an eye on it. You can spread the 'finished article' on bread, toast, muffins, crumpets, it's good with cheese or as a glaze for pork or poultry or can be used in much the same way as you'd use redcurrant jelly. I always reserve a couple of quince to just keep in a bowl, their perfume soon makes a room smell gorgeous.
