Quince jelly

The advantages of turning Japanese quinces into jellies are, that you do not have to peel the quinces. In principle you not need to remove the core with the seeds from the inner part as well. However, I usually remove the core and seeds from both apples & quinces, as I do not like the bitterness from these seeds. Off cause it takes more time to remove the seeds, but the big benefit for me is the better taste. And the peel and the quines on their contains enough own natural pectin to give a gel.

Based on some advise from some work colleagues, I also decide to add citric acid powder to the water during the boiling process as a lower pH will help on creating a gelled texture, which is required in jellies.

I did not weigh the amount of Japanese quinces, while making this jelly, as I started by boiling the quines soft in enough water to cover the quine pieces in the cooking pot. And when you have the quince juice, you measure the amount in order to calculate the amount of needed sugar to make jelly. I used the same ratio between juice and sugar as in this  red & black currant jelly.
It is quiet interesting to see, how the colour of the quince juice change from darker yellow to peach red after the addition of the sugar to the juice.

As I had received a relative large portion of Japanese quinces, I decided to make quince cordial as well, as the most of the process is quiet similar with regards to boiling.

I am planning to serve the quince jelly together with cheese. Perhaps you will have other suggestion, which you can share with me ?

Quinces jelly:

• Japanese quinces - washed, cut into 4 pieces, core & seeds removed
• Water - enough to cover the quince pieces in the cooking pot
• 1 teaspoon of citric acid
• 450 g sugar per 600 ml juice
• potassium sorbate - optional

1. Place the fruit and water in large cooking pan. Enough water to cover the quines pieces. Add citric acid as well. Bring to the boil. Reduce the heat.
2. Let the quinces pieces simmer under lid for approx 1-1½ hour, until the quines pieces are soft enough to be mashed.
3. Mash the quines pieces.
4. Pour the quince mash into a sieve, and press the juice through the sieves using a cooking spoon.
5. Afterwards pour the cordial through into a jelly bag to remove the un-clarity/ruit pieces from the juice. 
6.  Prepared the jelly glasses. I add boiling water to the glasses, while other will heat the glasses in the oven at 120 minutes.
7. Measure the amount of fruit juice and weight out 450 g sugar per 600 ml juice.
8. Pour the fruit into large cooking pan and heat up the juice to the boil.
9. Add in the sugar, stir until the sugar is dissolved.
10. Bring the jelly mixture to a rolling boil (the jelly mixture has a lot of boiling foam on top).
11. Let it boil for minimum 4 minute as starting point.
12. Test for a set after 4 minutes using the flake test (how the jelly is dripping from the cooking spoon). This is tricky, otherwise set, if the temperature is 104'C. I ended up with a boiling time of 10-12 minutes.
13. When the the texture is right, remove the cooking pan from the heat. Start right away to remove any scum from the surface of the jelly, using a large metal spoon.
14. Pour the jelly into glass jars, fill the jar to the top. Again remove any scum from the surface using a tea spoon.
15. Seal the jar with a lid.
16. Leave the glass upright and undisturbed to set.
17. Store at ambient temperature.