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Good Friends, Old Fashioned Preserves and Quince and Ginger Marmalade with Rosewater

Yum
Good Friends, 
Old Fashioned Preserves 
and 
Quince and Ginger Marmalade with Rosewater
 
A wonderfully fragrant and gingery marmalade that is extremely popular in the Bed and Breakfast.
 
Quince and Ginger Marmalade
 Day three of my Quartet of Quince recipe posts, and I have to say that I am really loving the challenge of coming up with new recipes for this lovely Autumn orchard fruit. This recipe is one that have made before and goes down like a jammy bomb in the Bed and Breakfast……I serve it on the breakfast table with THICK slices of buttered toast, and frequently have requests from guests to buy jars to take home. If you like ginger, as I do, you will LOVE this; the addition of rosewater just adds that elusive, exotic Mediaeval taste without taking anything away from the quince and ginger ~ all in all, it is a marmalade star.
Quince and Ginger Marmalade
 As for good friends, my good friend Bergy from Canada was the inspiration for this recipe; I adapted the version you see here from her original recipe, making a few small changes here and there, but she is essentially the author of this culinary delight. I had the opportunity to meet her for the first time this year ~ she travelled over for 12 days to stay with me at the B and B, and what a hoot we had, it was wonderful to meet her in person after 8 years of being on~line friends, and we got on like a house on fire too, eating, chatting and drinking well into the wee hours.
Quince and Ginger Marmalade
This recipe is not just great on toast, but makes a lovely filling for a Victoria sponge cake or when added to a pie or tart. The colour is sensational and it makes me smile when I open a new jar and see it glowing on the table, it never fails to surprise me when the yellow flesh starts to turn a rosy pink and then a ruby red colour as it is cooking.
Quince and Ginger Marmalade
With Christmas looming over the horizon, if you can get your hands on any quinces then this would be a star preserve to make and give out as gifts……..apart from the taste, the colour is just so festive. I am going to give food gifts to all my friends this year, in little hampers or jute bags, so I am making extra jars this year; the result of my feverish frenzy of preserving is that the jam factory looks like a fruit blizzard has hit it at high speed at present, but my compost bin is happy, it’s just gobbling up the peelings and the hens seem to go crazy over the cores ~ I am sure they are getting tiddly on them, as their bustles seem to sway more than usual after a good old gorge, the sybaritic life style that these wee misses are living.  
Quince and Ginger Marmalade
 Time to go now, but here is the recipe as well as a link to a printable version too, and here’s raising my glass to my good friend Bergy, cheers Bergy, thanks for being such a great friend though the bad times, and laughing with me through the good times, that’s what real friends are for, and thanks for the inspiration for this recipe too.
See you all tomorrow, with my last quince recipe in the quartet of quince posts.
Karen
Quince and Ginger Marmalade
 
Quince and Ginger Marmalade
Quince and Ginger Marmalade with Rosewater

A wonderfully fragrant and gingery marmalade that is extremely popular in the Bed and Breakfast.

Ingredients:

900g (2lbs) quinces, peeled, cored and cut into small chunks
1 kilo (1lb 2ozs) white sugar
juice of 1 lemon
water
225g (8ozs) crystallised ginger, cut into small pieces
2 teaspoons rosewater

Method:

Place the chopped quince, lemon juice and sugar into a large preserving pan, mix thoroughly and add enough water to just cover the fruit.

Stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved and then raise the heat and bring to a rapid boil ~ be careful as it will spit at this stage, so cover your hands and arms! Keep stirring all the time so the mixture does not “catch” and burn, and boil until the mixture has reached setting point, about 20 minutes to half an hour. 

Remove from the heat and add the chopped ginger and rosewater, stirring them well into the marmalade. Pour into hot, sterilised jars and seal. Lasts for 1 to 2 years in a cool, dark and dry place.

Serve in cakes, on toast, with crumpets and muffins, or with cheese and crackers. 
Quince and Ginger Marmalade

 

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Comments

  1. Dom at Belleau Kitchen says

    Another lovely Quince post. That jam looks amazing. I NEED to taste it NOW… Send me some for Christmas!!!

    Reply

  2. A Trifle Rushed says

    What a fantastic recipe I really have to get some Quinces! It sounds like you had a great time with your friend, how lovely. J x

    Reply

  5. Marie says

    How wonderful that you got to meet Bergy! I have long wanted to meet her myself. I am sure she really enjoyed her stay with you. Love the look of that jam. You do such lovely things! And your photos are fabulous. xxoo

    Reply

  6. millefeuilles says

    A beautiful post. This is my kind of food. I adore the addition of roses in any shape or form in cooking. I have it all at home: rose water, dried rose petals and buds, rose syrup….

    Best wishes,

    Stephanie

    Reply

  8. All That I'm Eating says

    I had quince for the first time last year and I'm addicted. Shame they have such a short season. This is a great way to keep them going!

    Reply

  9. La Table De Nana says

    It looks great..rare here:(

    Sounds like you had a fun time:) Exciting to see a net friend and bond:) I have and have loved it.

    Reply

  10. Cathy at Wives with Knives says

    I don't know that I have ever tried quince. I think they grow in my part of the world but have never seen them in the market. I'll have to ask about it tomorrow. The color of your marmalade is gorgeous and I love the addition of ginger and rose water.

    Reply

  11. Victoria says

    Oh what a lovely blog! wow…i am impressed with all the quince…I would be intimidated! BUT…you certainly have got me inspired to start my Christmas preserving! 🙂

    Reply

  12. Karen S Booth says

    Thanks for all of your lovely comments, I ran out of time to reply to each of you today…..time, where does it go!
    Karen

    Reply

  14. Karen S Booth says

    OH no don't panic Sue! I am ahead of you cos' I am in France ~ most of the quince I have used thus far have been windfalls, I still have the ones on the tree to go at, maybe in a week or two, and they will be more yellow too!
    Karen

    Reply

  15. Belinda Y. Hughes says

    Karen, that quince marmalade is just too lovely for words! My aunt had planted a stand of quince at my grandmother's years ago, but apparently it's no longer there. Will have to find some to join my lemons and figs in the orchard here.

    Reply

  16. Janice says

    That certainly looks good. Quinces are not easy to come by and I'm not keen on the peeling and coring them, but I have to say I'm tempted by your recipe.

    Reply

  18. Heather says

    Oh, this looks nice! You know, I dont think I've ever had quince. I couldnt even tell you what they look like. I wonder if we have that over here? Hmm…well, I know if you make it, it must be delicious!~

    Reply

  21. Paula @ Vintage Kitchen says

    What a wonderful combination with the quince! I live in Argentina and quince paste is one of our middle names. It´s so widely available that the only time I made it at home, my hands were so sore from peeling the quince that it was also the last. Kudos for making this! I will add some ginger and rosewater to the artisanal paste I buy at the store.

    Reply

    • Karen says

      Hello Paula! Many thanks for your kind comments, and also how lucky you are to be able to buy quince products so easily……it is VERY hard work peeling and chopping my quince, and my hands always get sore! Karen

      Reply

  22. Philippa says

    Hi Karen,
    I live in Australia so it is quince season here now and I am lucky enough to have access to some gnarled old quince trees (and of course, their delicious bounty) I made this jam today and absolutely love the flavour combination – truly a winner, BUT I did find that I had waaaay too much water – it took an absolute age to reduce down to a jam-like consistency. I just barely covered the fruit with water but still….bubble bubble toil and trouble. I usually make poached quince overnight in the slow cooker and make jelly with leftover poaching liquid; I am a newbie to jam. Do you know roughly how many cups of water you would use for this recipe? By the time the water had reduced enough, the jam was quite toffee – like. Delicious anyway, but I’d like to get it right – another option would be to cook the fruit first and then add the sugar and lemon and get to setting point and then stir through the ginger and rosewater I guess?? Yummy anyway and thanks for posting.

    Reply

    • Karen S says

      Ah, thanks so much for letting me know Philippa, it is a friend’s recipe, as you will have seen, and I have not made it since last year……but, I will refer back to her original notes and see if I made a mistake when I posted the recipe! I have my own quince jam marmalade too, so let me check with that as well……we will sort this out together! I will get back to you over the next day or so, and thanks so much for your positive comments! Karen

      Reply

  23. Philippa says

    Thanks Karen,
    Something happened when I tried to permit you to let me know when a comment was posted (following the blog I think) No idea what I did wrong as I hadn’t done that before and somehow ended up with a delete and then away the screen went, never to return. Accidental I promise.
    The marmalade is even better today and I will make another batch tomorrow and see how I go. The more familiar you get with a recipe, the more you do things automatically, and “exactness” doesn’t matter any more, but I have no experience with jams or marmalades so wasn’t sure. The only jam I have ever made is the apple and raspberry from “The Passionate Cook” . Other recipes for this combination call for dicing the apples, but she says slice thinly (about 2-3mm, which is time consuming but definitely worth it in the end. So, so pretty as you end up with translucent pink slices of tarty-sweet apple surrounded by rich raspberry jam. Yum for the eyes and yum for the tum. 🙂 I make it now in the autumn when the granny smith apples are fresh picked but it means I have to use frozen raspberries. Still delicious (and much cheaper than fresh in these parts where raspberries are about $6 per 150g pun net – ouch!! )

    Reply

  24. Behjat says

    Hello Karen, your quince preserve looks wonderful. I learned how to bake and cook from my mother who was an excellent cook and pastry chef, only for our family. Of course, she never used a recipe or measured anything, and everything came out delicious. Her quince preserve was delicious and beautiful to look at. It looked ruby red and the aroma was out of this world. We had many quince trees at our summer home and always waited until fall, when quince is at its best, to use them. In order to achieve the best ruby color and rich syrup, you must have plenty of time to devote to making of this preserve. You cannot boil it down and be done with it. It doesn’t mean you have to stand there and watch it for the entire time, but it has to simmer for almost 2 hours on very low heat in order to turn ruby red. You need to gently stir it occasionally to immerse all the fruit in the syrup. Someday, I will have a cookbook with recipes that has measurements for others to follow.

    Reply

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