1,463 easy and fully explained recipes, with +66K photos and 78 videos

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.

45 K 4/5 (5 reviews)

2 hours 3 min. difficulté

Easy

2.15 €

1 kg 800 g

5 Ingredients

Last modified on: December 3^rd 2017

For 1 kg 800 g, you will need:

1 3 lb + 8.3 oz quince
2 1 lemon
3 1 lb + 15.7 oz granulated sugar
4 2.1 oz jam sugar
5 2 oranges (optional)

Change these quantities to make:

300 g 450 g 900 g 1 kg 800 g 2 kg 700 g

Change measures:

Metric

Metric weight Metric volumes

Times for this recipe

Preparation: 35 min.

Resting: 1 hour

Cooking: 30 min.

All in all: 2 hours 3 min.

When should you start or finish this recipe?

If you start now, at , you will finish around : ?.Change start time

To finish around 7pm, you'll need to have started before: .Change end time

Step by step recipe

Stage 1 - 3 min.

Wash and brush 3 lb + 8.3 oz 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 1 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 2 oranges at this point.

Stage 6 - 3 min.

Weigh 1 lb + 15.7 oz 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 2.1 oz 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

	Proteins (gr)	Carbohydrates (gr)	Fats (gr)	Energy value (in k-calories)	Energy value (in k-joules)
Whole recipe	20 RDI=6 %	1,220 RDI=120 %	8 RDI=1 %	4,980 RDI=250 %	20,870 RDI: 250 %
Per 100 g	0	50 RDI=4 %	0	190 RDI=9 %	780 RDI: 9 %

The % figures are calculated in relation to the Recommended Dietary Intake , or RDI of 2,000 k-calories (or 8,400 k-joules) per day for a woman Change to a man

How much will it cost?

For 1 kg 800 g : 4.30 €

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)

Other recipes you may also like

Clarified butter

This is a way of melting butter to eliminate all the impurities. The clarified butter can then be heated without spoiling, and is more digestible. It is ideal for cooking at high temperatures where small black specks would spoil the appearance, or for emulsified sauces like béarnaise or mousseline.
June 21^th 2017457 K4.2 2 hours 15 min.

Four quarters

It's "the simpliest cake in the world", called four quarters, because it's made with 1/4 eggs, 1/4 sugar, 1/4 flour and 1/4 butter.
February 21^th 2011314 K3.7 1 hour 15 min.

Nicholas's fish

This is a very easy recipe, everything hinges on the brief cooking of the leeks, then the fish.
February 21^th 2011245 K4.8 60 min.

French baguettes

This classic of French baking is rather different from the recipe for leavened bread, it's a question of making a good crust and light crumb along the whole length. To succeed, you should know that there are two secrets: water first of all (much more than for normal bread), and the working of the...
October 24^th 20171.07 M 364.7 5 hours 6 min.

Cocktail sauce

Cocktail sauce is a spicy mayonnaise with cognac, Tabasco and concentrated tomato paste (or purée) added.
October 13^th 2010199 K4 9 min.

News list of cooking-ez.com

Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.