Quince Jam

Those are a fruit called Quince. It is very popular in Lebanon and is made into a delicious jam. And that seemed like a perfect experiment for a week with not much planned.

I jump on a long distance call to mom and ask how to make it. Pleasantly surprised how easy the recipe is, I go at it.

First slice and dice, without peeling (supposedly makes it thicker and chewy, the way this jam is supposed to be). I am not sure I cut them as thin or as small as I should have had, but that part was getting boring.

You then weigh an equal weight of sugar to the quince and put in a pot on medium heat.

The quince starts giving its own liquid and the jam starts to boil. Keep it boiling on low heat until it is done. See how the colour turns into this beautiful red/orange colour.

According to mom, the best way to know that the jam is cooked is to put a bit on a piece of regular writing paper.

If liquid seeps through to the back of the paper, then you need to keep cooking. If nothing seeps through, the jam is ready.

But hang on, this is not done yet. As mentioned above, it has to be chewy.

The way to do so is to add a tsp of crushed mastic (a resin from a shrub native to the Mediterranean). Mastic can also be used as chewing gum by taking a little candle wax off a white candle and a bit of mastic and chewing them together... but I digress. 

The mastic melted throughout and now the heat is off and all ready to go into jars when cool.

A dozen quince will yield enough jam to fill up four to five small jars. 

Taste was delicious, but I think I needed to slice the quince smaller and thinner to get the right texture I remember from home. For now, think of this batch as candied quince.