I wanted to preserve the wonderfully alluring nature of quince to enjoy throughout the year without a whole heck-of-a-lot of embellishment. I looked to quince’s native home for inspiration: Persia, Turkey and their surrounds.
Quince in Rose Syrup
Yield: 4 pints
4 lbs. quince
juice of 2 lemons
2 & 1/2 cups sugar
approximately 20 black peppercorns
1/4 cup rose water
pint mason jars
1. Prepare the canner and jars for hot water bath processing. No need to sterilize as you will be processing for over 10 minutes. Just make sure they are hot when you fill them.
2. Prepare a large bowl with cold water. Place 4 cups water in a large saucepan and add the quince whole. Bring to a boil for 2 minutes. Take quince out with slotted spoon and drop in cold water. Reserve the 4 cups water in the saucepan.
3. Remove quince from the bowl, and refill with fresh cold water; add juice of two lemons. Peel, core and cut quinces into eighths. Drop directly into lemon-water to avoid discoloration.
4. Add sugar to the reserved 4 cups of water in pan and heat on low until sugar is dissolved. Add quince slices and bring to a boil. Simmer gently for 12 minutes, partially covered. Turn off heat.
5. Remove all 4 pint jars from canning pot. Add 5 whole black peppercorns to each. Remove quince from syrup with a slotted spoon and fill each jar with quince to 1/2 inch headspace. Tap the jars on a towel covered counter to create more space and release air.
6. Add 1/4 cup rose water and return syrup to a boil. Once boiling, turn off heat and pour over fruit into jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Use a plastic chopstick or plastic knife to gently remove air bubbles.
7. Hot water bath process for 20 minutes.
gap
Though I know that rose water is heavily used in Persian and Turkish sweets, there was a moment when I thought it may be too sweetly perfumed for the quince’s heady scent. Alas, the rose and quince do not compete; rather they marry together to form a harmonious bouquet of exotica. On ice cream this is a no-brainer, but I have something else in mind: a rose n’ quince tarte tatin or custard tart will most definitely find its way out of a couple of these jars sometime in the cold winter months.
With this recipe I came away with about 3/4 of a pint of syrup left. The scent is incredible alone, and I cannot wait to use this rose n’ quince syrup in a holiday cocktail.