Kitchen and Other Stories

  • Breakfast Recipes
  • Main Course Recipes
  • Soup Recipes
  • Healthy Salad Recipes
  • Side Dishes & Snacks
  • Dessert & Drink Recipes
  • Kitchen Skills & Hacks
  • Foraging & Sustainable Living
  • About
menu icon
go to homepage
search icon
Homepage link
  • Breakfast Recipes
  • Main Course Recipes
  • Side Dishes & Snacks
  • Dessert & Drink Recipes
  • Healthy Salad Recipes
  • Soup Recipes
  • Foraging & Sustainable Living
  • Kitchen Skills & Hacks
×
Home » Side Dishes & Snacks

Dried Quince & Quince Syrup. A Delicious Sweet Treat From a Forgotten Fruit.

Published: Nov 4, 2022 · Modified: Dec 24, 2022 by Chef Tripti · This post may contain affiliate links

↓ Jump to Recipe
Pin the Recipe

Some fruits are often overlooked because, at first sight, they seem inedible. However, with a little effort, these can be turned into delicious sweet treats that could very well become a favourite in your household. One example is the medlar fruit, which I champion elsewhere on my blog with my medlar butter. Another is quince. In this post, I will show you how to make dried quince snack bites and quince syrup that you can use as a sweetener and flavour enhancer in your dishes.

A shallow dish containing dried quince and a bottle of quince syrup laying next to the dish.

Quince is a fruit that needs a little effort to make edible, but it is well worth it! To make it edible, it needs to be cooked. Fresh from the tree, quince is a hard, aromatic (our car smells wonderful driving how after a quince picking session!) bright golden-yellow fruit, similar in appearance to a pear. A bite into it at this stage would not be particularly pleasant unless you like hard, tart fruit. Once cooked though, they can be made into jams and quince cheese due to their high pectin content, or an alcoholic drink, to name a few uses. I like to make delicious dried fruit pieces for a snack and utilize the liquids from this as a sweet syrup to add to recipes or even my porridge at breakfast.

Jump to:
  • Quince Trivia
  • Ingredients
  • Instructions
  • Substitutions
  • Variations
  • Equipment
  • Storage
  • 📖 Recipe
  • Food Safety

Quince Trivia

Quince has enjoyed popularity throughout history. Native to Iran and the Caucasus regions, it was already widespread in Europe by the time of the Romans. In Greek mythology quince has strong relation to the goddess Aphrodite. Consequently it played an important role in ancient Greek weddings. Ancient physicians praised its medicinal properties. There is even speculation that the "forbidden fruit" in the garden of Eden was a quince!

'Membrillo', or quince jelly, is a popular sweet treat now. It is national dish in Spain, when served with Spanish cheese. Quince cheese is also very popular in other countries such as Hungary, Brazil, France and Mexico. Interestingly, the word Marmalade comes from the Portuguese word marmelada, which means "quince preparation". The earliest marmalade was made with quince and honey.

Ingredients

Ingredients for dried quince and quince syrup. Three whole quince and Demerara sugar in a bowl.
  • Quince
  • Demerara sugar

See the recipe card for quantities.

Instructions

Close up of fingers holding a slice of quince showing two millimetre thickness.

Cut the quince into quarters and remove the hard core. Slice into 2mm thick wedges.

A large two litre jar containing layered slices of dried quince. Sugar has been poured on top.

Pack the quince into the sterilised jar. Add sugar on top of the quince and give it a shake so that the sugar descends into the quince slices. Fasten the lid and set it aside on your kitchen counter top, away from direct sunlight.

A large jar containing slices of quince with partially dissolved Demerara sugar.

Each day, give the jar with a shake a couple of times for the sugar to disperse. By day one, you will see liquid in the jar. this liquid is the sugar drawing the moisture out from the quince.

A large jar containing slices of quince and quince syrup after added Demerara sugar completely dissolved.

By day two, all the sugar will have dissolved, and the liquid will increase in volume.

Pouring quince slices and quince syrup from a large glass jar into a sieve over a glass bowl.

Strain the quince liquid into a bowl.

A saucepan containing boiling quince syrup.

Transfer the liquid to a pot, bring it to a rapid boil, and immediately turn off the heat.

Pouring quince syrup from a glass beaker into a glass bottle.

Then transfer it into a sterilised bottle and allow it to cool to the touch, then refrigerate

A three layered dehydrator with layers of slices of quince drying.

As for the quince slices, arrange them in a dehydrated set at 40ºC and dry them for about 4 hours. If using an oven, dehydrate at 70ºc for two to three hours.

Once the quince pieces are dry and chewy, transfer them into an airtight jar.

Substitutions

You can replace the quince with apple or pears. The time to extract the moisture and dehydration times will differ.

I have used demerara sugar, you can replace this with either raw cane sugar or soft brown sugar. I prefer not to use castor sugar as it can become caky and not dissolve properly.

Variations

If quince syrup is all you are after, you can boil it in sugar and water, which will give you the quince syrup, but the quince itself cannot be used as it will become pulpy. Of course, you can dehydrate the pulp. However, I find a lot of flavour and texture is lost.

Equipment

You will need a sterilised two-litre glass jar and a sterilised one-litre bottle for the quince syrup. To dry the quince a dehydrator is very useful, although you can dry the quince in an oven.

Storage

I recommend keeping the syrup refrigerated; if the bottle and all equipment has been sterilised carefully, it can last up to a year.

The dried quince pieces can be stored in an airtight glass jar. It should last more than three months; however, in my household, they disappear in a week.

📖 Recipe

A shallow dish containing dried quince slices and a bottle of quince syrup.

Dried Quince & Quince Syrup

Chef Tripti
How to get the most out of your Quince by making fragrant Quince syrup and dehydrated Quince sweet bites.
4.67 from 6 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 20 minutes mins
Cook Time 5 minutes mins
Maceration time and Dehydration 2 days d 4 hours hrs
Total Time 2 days d 4 hours hrs 25 minutes mins
Course Drinks, Snack
Cuisine British
Servings 1 250g (dried quince)

Equipment

  • Digital scales
  • 2-litre glass jar with lid
  • 1 Litre Glass bottle
  • Dehydrater

Ingredients
 
 

  • 1.2 kg Quince
  • 250 g Demerara Sugar

Instructions
 

  • Wash the quince thoroughly and pat them dry.
  • Wash the two-litre jar with hot soapy water and sterilise it in the oven at 100ºC for 30 minutes.
  • Cut the quince into quarters and remove the hard core. Slice into 2mm thick slices.
  • Pack the quince into the sterilised jar.
  • Add the sugar on top of the quince and give it a shake. Fasten the lid and set aside on your kitchen counter top away from direct sunlight.
  • Each day for two days, shake the jar a couple of times for the sugar to disperse. At the end of day one, you will see liquid in the jar. This liquid is the sugar drawing the moisture out from the quince.
  • All the sugar should have dissolved on day two, and you will have syrup in a jar.
  • Strain the quince liquid into a bowl. Transfer the liquid to a pot and bring it to a rapid boil. Imediately turn off the heat and then transfer the syrup into a sterilised bottle and allow it to cool to the touch. Then refrigerate.
  • Arrange the quince slices in a dehydrator set at 40ºC and dry them for about four hours. If using an oven, dehydrate at 70ºc for two to three hours.
  • Once the quince slices are dry and chewy, transfer them into an airtight jar.
Keyword Dried Fruit, Quince, Syrup, zerowaste cooking
Tried this recipe?Please leave a review & rating
Mention @kitchenandotherstories or tag #kitchenandotherstories!

Food Safety

In a professional kitchen, food hygiene and safety are top priorities, and from the beginning of my training, I practised good habits and routines. Here are some fundamental practices to adopt in the kitchen at home.

  • Wash your hands regularly while preparing, handling and cooking food.
  • Wipe down countertops and high-contact points regularly.
  • If you cook meat and fish, do not use the same utensils on cooked food that previously touched raw meat. Use separate chopping boards for meat and fish. Wash your chopping boards immediately after use.
  • Thoroughly cook food to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C).
  • Don't leave food at room temperature for extended periods (more than 2 hours).
  • Store food correctly.

For more details regarding food hygiene and safety in the home, visit the UK Government's Food Standards Agency webpage.

More Side Dish & Snack Recipes

  • A jam jar containing wild garlic capers in pickling liquor.
    How To Make Wild Garlic Capers
  • Pumpkin dip garnished with pumpkin seeds in a small black dish.
    How To Make Pumpkin Dip With Crown Prince Pumpkin
  • Seven spiced pea tartlets.
    Vegan Canape: Spiced Pea Tartlets
  • Close-up of five mini brioche buns.
    How To Make Vegan Brioche Buns

Comments

    4.67 from 6 votes (3 ratings without comment)

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  1. Karima says

    October 04, 2023 at 12:16 am

    5 stars
    Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge. I love all things quince! I’m going to follow the steps you describe and make dried quince once the season starts where I live. I’m fortunate to have a quince tree growing in the front garden! Can’t wait for it to flourish, heavy with quinces. And I’ll need to supplement with quince fruits from the local fruit monger, because the tree only gives us a few precious fruit. But I am so pleased by what we get home grown in our own garden!

    Reply
    • Chef Tripti says

      October 07, 2023 at 7:55 pm

      Thank you so much for sharing. Quince is an under-rated fruit! These Quince snacks are very more-ish. Its a bumper crop from the tree I pick from!

      Reply
  2. Kylie says

    September 10, 2024 at 9:40 am

    5 stars
    What happens if you leave the quince & sugar mix in the bottle longer than 2 days? Will 3 days be ok?
    I cannot wait to have the end product!

    Reply
    • Chef Tripti says

      September 10, 2024 at 7:32 pm

      Hello there!
      Depending on how hot it is where you are, it will start to ferment. Sometimes three days is okay, however I have found that once the sugar is dissolved, then the liquid is already infused with the flavour of quince. I have once left it for four days and it tasted a bit funny.
      I look forward to hearing your feedback. My favourite though is the dried quince as a snack.
      Tripti

      Reply
      • Stella says

        September 17, 2024 at 2:11 am

        3 stars
        I left mine for two days. Sadly it fermented. I'm not sure if they are going to turn out right. When I boiled the syrup it boiled the alcohol out. I'm worried about the quince though.

        Reply
        • Chef Tripti says

          September 19, 2024 at 9:28 pm

          Hello Stella!
          Is it still hot where you are? Local temperature makes a difference, perhaps that's why it fermented. In the past this has happened to me, when I left it for longer than three days. The syrup I had refrigerated and it was fine in two weeks that it took me to finish it. As for the quince, once it was dehydrated it was gorgeous. Please do dry and see how that works out for you.
          All the very best.
          Tripti

          Reply
  3. John Pinder says

    November 11, 2024 at 6:07 pm

    This was a great success! Both the dried quince and syrup very popular in my household. A lovely way to use the garden quince ( as I’ve been running low on good recipes).

    Reply
    • Chef Tripti says

      December 04, 2024 at 8:28 pm

      Am so glad you enjoyed!

      Reply
Blog author behind lavender plant
Chef Tripti

Hi! Tripti here. I am a Michelin-trained chef with over 20 years of experience in the industry. My mission is to help you cook fresh, nutritious food with simple recipes that deliver creativity and taste—food with heart and soul.

More about me →

Wild Edible Plant Recipes For Home Cooking

Discover the flavours of nature with these easy yet delicious and nutritious recipes, using edible wild plants like Wild Garlic, Nettle, and Elderflower.

  • Hand holding a whicker basket containing foraged dandelion, ground ivy, garlic mustard and nettle.
    Food For Free: Eat The Weeds!
  • 11 Wild Garlic and Other Foraged Wild Greens Recipes
  • Shallow dish containing saag aloo and a flat bread.
    Easy One-Pot Saag Aloo With Nettle Leaves
  • A plate containing Patte Ki Chaat made with nettle leaves.
    How To Use Nettle Leaves - Make Patte Ki Chaat
  • Close up of a shallow black dish containing sliced pickled walnuts.
    How To Make Pickled Green Walnuts
  • Four Elderflower and strawberry ice lollies stacked on a small dish sat upon a log.
    Easy Homemade Elderflower And Strawberry Ice lolly
  • A bottle of elderflower cordial on a wooden platter surrounded by elderflower leaves.
    Elderflower Cordial. Homemade Cordial In A Few Simple Steps
  • A shallow dish containing lilac nice cream, and two cones with nice cream sat in a stoneware cup next to the dish.
    A Taste of Springtime: Lilac Flower Nice Cream
  • A Pitcher with cleavers infusing in water, and a glass of cleaver infused detox water
    Spring Foraging: Detox With Cleaver Infused Water
  • a small yellow dish containing pickled plums. A jar containing pickled pickled plums in olive oil sits next to it.
    How To Cure And Pickle Green Plums Like Olives.
  • A glass of sparkling flowering currant cordial.
    Easy Homemade Flowering Currant Cordial Recipe

Footer

↑ back to top

Legal

  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimers
  • Terms of use
  • Cookie Policy

Connect

  • TikTok
  • YouTube
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram

Contact

  • Contact / Work With Me

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases

Copyright © 2025 Kitchen And Other Stories

Foodie Pro theme from Feast Design Co. Built on Genesis Framework. Powered by Wordpress

Rate This Recipe

Your vote:




A rating is required
A name is required
An email is required

Recipe Ratings without Comment

Something went wrong. Please try again.