Sicilian Quince Jam
Cotognata - Sicilian quince jam reflects the rich culinary heritage of the region. Enjoy making and sharing this with family and friends. The jam, as it cooks, becomes not only denser but also darker and glossy.
INGREDIENTS
2 kg quinces
1kg sugar
2 vanilla beans
METHOD
Wash and sterilise your jam jars of choice
Put two small plates in the freezer to use for later
To prepare the quinces, peel them, take out the inner core and seeds and chop them into medium pieces. This takes patience, so persevere! Weigh the chopped fruit and take note so you can calculate how much sugar to add, which will be 50%. So, if the chopped quince weighs 1kg, you need to weigh out 500g sugar
With a sharp knife, slice the vanilla beans in half and scrape out the seeds. Put your seeds and vanilla pods aside
Get a large saucepan with a lid and place the chopped quinces, sugar and vanilla seeds and pods inside the pot. Turn the heat on high and stir periodically with a long wooden spoon to allow the sugar to begin to melt and come to a boil. Reduce the heat to low to allow the fruit to simmer
While the quinces are simmering, stir occasionally to ensure that it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. If it burns, the ‘burnt flavour’ will permeate through the whole batch and render it useless. Cook until the fruit is soft and starting to naturally break apart. If you cook it too far, it will most likely turn in to quince paste. Turn off the heat
With a stick blender, blend the cooked quinces until it forms a smooth paste. Be careful not to burn yourself as the fruit and liquid can spray out of the pan if it is too shallow. To mitigate, you may need to cover the pot with foil, make a hole in the centre and put your stick blender in the hole to blend
Get the plate out of the freezer, place a small amount of jam onto the plate, and run your finger through it. If the jam doesn’t run through the middle and ‘holds up well’ then it is ready. If the jam joins together, cook for a little longer with the lid ajar as the bubbling jam may splatter
Ladle the hot jam into sterilised jars, place the lid on immediately, and allow the jars to cool
Store in a cool place. Once the jam is opened, keep in the fridge due to the lower sugar-to-fruit ratio, so it doesn’t go mouldy