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Quince paste

This traditional French "pâte de fruit" (fruit paste or leather) has a distinctive, firm consistency and is full of flavour, with the characteristic tang of quince.

The preparation is rather long, but the result is well worth all the effort.

33K 4 3.8

Last modified on: December 3^rd 2017

Keywords for this recipe:

For 900 g, you will need:

1 800 g quince
2 ½ lemon
3 450 g granulated sugar
4 30 g jam sugar
5 1 orange (optional)
Total weight: 1,345 grams

Change these quantities to make: 300 g 450 g 900 g 1 kg 800 g 2 kg 700 g

Change measures: Metric

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How long does it take?

Time required for this recipe:

Preparation	Resting	Cooking	Start to finish
33 min.	1 hour	30 min.	2 hours 3 min.

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Step by step recipe

Stage 1 - 3 min.

Wash and brush 800 g quinces, but do not peel, as the skin add to the flavour.

Stage 2 - 8 min.

Cut the quinces into quarters, then remove and discard the core. Cut each quarter into small pieces.

Put the quince pieces into a saucepan, add ½ lemon cut into 4 and just enough water to cover.

Note: From 800g of quinces, you should be left with 500 g of cut fruit.

Stage 3 - 20 min.

Put the pan uncovered on medium heat and cook until the fruit is soft enough for the point of a knife to go through it easily.

Stage 4 - 5 min.

After cooking, discard the lemon pieces and pass the quinces through a vegetable mill on "fine" setting.

Do not throw away the cooking liquid.

Stage 5 - 3 min.

Transfer the quince pulp into a saucepan and weigh it (from 500 g cut fruit, you should be left with about 350 g of cooked pulp).

Weigh 30% of this weight in cooking liquid (100 g here), then mix this with the quince pulp.

You can add the zest of 1 orange at this point.

Stage 6 - 3 min.

Weigh 450 g granulated sugar (this should be the same wieght as the mixture of fruit pulp and cooking liquid).

Take out 50 g of this sugar at mix it separately with the 30 g jam sugar.

Stage 7 - 4 min.

Put the saucepan on high heat and bring to the boil, then tip in the 50 g of sugar with its gelling agent.

Stage 8 - 3 min.

Mix well, bring back to the boil and cook for 3 minutes, stirring constantly.

Stage 9 - 1 min.

Add the rest of the sugar all at once.

Stage 10 - 3 min.

Mix well, bring back to the boil and cook for a further 3 minutes, stirring constantly.

Stage 11 - 1 hour

Pour into a mould or tin, lined with a sheet of cooking parchment.

Leave to cool for at least 1 hour.

Stage 12 - 10 min.

Turn out and cut into pieces about the size of a sugar cube.

Stage 13

You can make the paste look more attractive by rolling the pieces in a little granulated sugar, but this is not essential.

Remarks

This is a very ancient sweetmeat, particularly appreciated at the French court during the Renaissance. It was apparently a favourite of both Marie de' Medici and the Duc de Guise.

Keeping

Several days (weeks, even) in the fridge, covered with plastic film.

Source

From gaston Lenôtre, but dedicated to Isabelle and Patrick who will recognise something of themselves here..

Nutritional information

Whole recipe
Energetic value	Proteins	Carbohydrates	Fats
2,492 Kcal or 10,434 Kj	8 gr	608 gr	4 gr
125 %	3 %	57 %	1 %

Per 100 g
Energetic value	Proteins	Carbohydrates	Fats
185 Kcal or 775 Kj	1 gr	45 gr	< 1 gr
9 %	<1 %	4 %	<1 %

% are calculated relative to a Recommended Dietary Intake or RDI of 2000 k-calories or 8400 k-joules by day for a woman (change to a man).

How much will it cost?

For 900 g : 2.14 €

Change currency:

Note: Be careful, these prices are only an estimate, you can consult the table of prices by ingredients used for this estimate.

This recipe uses (among others)

	Quince: You can check-out other recipes which use it, like for example: Quince and apple compote, Confit of quinces in Macvin, Quince compote, Quince jelly, ... All
	Granulated sugar: You can check-out other recipes which use it, like for example: Galette Charentaise, Windfall apple jelly, Candied grapefruit peel, Kouign-amann brioche, Fruit paste : Blackcurrant, ... All
	Jam sugar: You can check-out other recipes which use it, like for example: Clementine sorbet, Macarons (the original French macaroons) , Fillings for macaroons, ... All
	Lemon: You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Lemon tart, Santiago Cake, Sausage mushroom and cheese crumble, Poppy seed and lemon cake, Seared tuna with lemon and lime, ... All

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