Nutrition A raw quince is 84% water, 15%
carbohydrates, and contains negligible fat and
protein (table). In a reference amount, the fruit provides of
food energy and a moderate amount of
vitamin C (17% of the
Daily Value), with no other
micronutrients in significant percentage of the Daily Value (table).
Culinary use Quinces have intense aroma, flavour, and tartness; most varieties are too hard and tart to be eaten raw. They may be cooked or roasted and used for jams, marmalade, jellies, or pudding. and 'Kuganskaya', can be eaten raw. High in
pectin, they are used to make
jam,
jelly and quince
pudding, or they may be peeled, then roasted, baked or stewed; pectin levels diminish as the fruit ripens. Long cooking with sugar turns the flesh of the fruit red due to the presence of pigmented
anthocyanins. The strong flavour means they can be added in small quantities to apple pies and jam. Adding a diced quince to apple sauce enhances the taste of the apple sauce. The term "
marmalade", originally meaning a quince jam, derives from , the
Portuguese word for this fruit.
Quince cheese or quince jelly originated from the
Iberian Peninsula and is a firm, sticky, sweet reddish hard paste made by slowly cooking down the quince fruit with sugar. It is called in the Spanish-speaking world, where it is eaten with
manchego cheese. Quince is used in the
Levant, especially in
Syria. It is added to either chicken or
kibbeh to create an intense and unique taste such as with
kibbeh safarjaliyeh. File:Dulce de Membrillo.jpg|
Quince cheese File:Kibbeh Safarjaliyeh.jpg|Levantine
kibbeh safarjaliyeh, beef stew in quince sauce
Alcoholic drink In the
Balkans, quince
eau-de-vie (
rakija) is made. Ripe fruits of sweeter varieties are washed and cleared of rot and seeds, then crushed or minced, mixed with cold or boiling sweetened water and
yeast, and left for several weeks to ferment. The fermented mash is
distilled once, obtaining a 20–30
ABV, or twice, producing an approximately 60% ABV liquor. The two distillates may be mixed or diluted with distilled water to obtain the final product, containing 42–43% ABV. In
Carolina in 1709, the explorer and naturalist
John Lawson wrote that he was "not a fair judge of the different sorts of Quinces which they call Brunswick, Portugal and Barbary", but "of this fruit they make a wine or liquor which they call Quince-Drink and which I approve of beyond any drink that their country affords ... The Quince-Drink most commonly purges". == Cultural associations ==