Quince and Lemon Marmalade

Quinces450g/1 lb lemons
1.35kg/3 lbs ripe quinces
1.5 litres/2.5 pints water
1.35kg/3 lb sugar

Using a zester remove rind from lemons, otherwise peel and shred rind. (Yellow rind only, no pith). Squeeze out the juice. Put on one side. Put pulp, pith and pips from lemons in a large pan.

Peel and core the quinces. Put parings and cores with lemon piths, add half the water, bring to boil and simmer for about 20minutes. In the meantime cut up quinces into neat small dice, cover with half lemon juice as you are doing it, add rest of water and lemon zest, gently cook until tender in a large enough pan in which to rapidly boil the finished preserve.

When the quince is tender, but not collapsed, add the sugar, remainder of the lemon juice, and the strained extract of the pan with the peelings in. You can then throw the peelings, pips etc on the compost heap!

Over a low heat stir the quince mixture until the sugar has dissolved, then boil rapidly until setting point is reached. Cool slightly, then stir to make sure the quinces pieces won’t all rise to the top of the jars.

Makes about 5lbs.

A note on words

Marmelada (Portuguese) is origin of our English word marmalade

It comes from marmelo, which means quince.

The origin of the word is the two Greek words for honey and apple, so a quince might be called a ‘honey apple’