Today, I’ll be sharing with you a Moroccan-Jewish recipe of
Quince jam. I saw quite a few recipes online and also in some book. This one is
rather spiced/caramelised version, which is why I love it.
Look at this
beautiful ruby colour? Isn’t that on its own a reason to share it?.
In Morocco, maybe elsewhere as well, the Jewish community
has some good recipes that have blended in the culinary history of our country.
I will never forget the first day I tried some of the jams
I’ve never heard of before: carrot jam, dry raisins, aubergine….It seemed to me
there was no barrier as of what you can turn into jam after that day.. An old
woman from the Jewish community was selling it by weight.
The idea of this jam, as well as the one made of small aubergines
or dry raisins, is not to have a mushy texture such as the jams we know.
What can you do with quince jam? Have it with some strong
cheese such as blue cheese, put it on the top of any roasted red meat, use it
in a tart or a cake, or just have it as is…
This recipe is adapted from here (in French).
Ingredients
For 6 persons
Prep: 7 min – cooking :1h – 1h 30 min
- 2 quinces of about 650 g, peeled and cut in length into 8
- About 325 g of caster sugar
- 2 cinnamon sticks of 2 cm or 1 tall
- 2 cloves
- The juice of ½ lemon
- 30 cl of water
For soaking
- Enough water to cover the quince
- The juice of ½ lemon
Preparation
Soak the peeled quince in water mixed with lemon juice so they don’t go dark. I kept the skin on the side and a cooked it with the jam for more pectin. Just discard at the end (or eat them, like I did).
In a heavy pan, bring sugar, cinnamon, clove and water to a boil. Add the
quince and cover. Let simmer over low heat for about 1h to 1h30. You might use
a pressure cooker (which I did, because
the pulp of the quince is hard). In
this case, cook on medium heat and once you hear the whistle of the cooker,
Uncover and let simmer over low heat for about ½ hour. Add the lemon juice and
carry on simmering until you get a very sticky/caramelized consistency.
To check if the jam is ready pour a few drops on the marble of the kitchen or any cold recipient, once cool, if it gets very sticky it means it’s ready. Discard the peels used for their frangrance and ptheuir pectin only.
It may take up to 40 minutes of simmering over low heat for
the jelly/jam to reach the set stage.
Once the set point is reached, put the
jam into a sterilised jar, seal properly and put it back in a boiling water
bath for 10 minutes.
This caramelized jam/preserve keeps for years according to the people who have tried it. Mine wouldn’t last for a week…
