quince jelly part two

I managed to squeeze in some jelly time while the girls napped today. I'm going to be honest with you here, I'm not convinced yet that the effort was worth the outcome. This is in part because I got sidetracked at the end, and slightly over cooked the jelly so it's thicker than I would have preferred. Regardless, just under 8 pounds of quince turned into only 3 1/2 half-pints of jelly. It took about 3 active hours, but you'll need to set aside an entire day, because pressing the juice needs several hours.

My recipe came from Simply Recipes and was, I thought, very straight forward. My quince yielded significantly less juice than expected even though I felt I was following the method.
Maybe I needed more water. The flavor is lovely, but quite subtle. In my various searches for information on quince, I read the apt description of quince smelling like a mix between a pear and an apple only more floral and with a hint of vanilla. It tastes that way too.


What surprised me most is the coloring. When fresh, quince are a bright yellow-green on the outside and white inside. As you boil it, the flesh changes to a lovely pinky-peach hue. Then, as the juice is boiled with sugar, it turns into the most amazing orange-red that practically glows.