Medlar or Quince Jelly Recipe

Quinces

Medlars

1kg quince or medlar (or probably crab apple)
500g sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
1l water

Cut up the fruit, medlars just need halving and quinces need chopping more, don't bother to core the medlars, you can core the quinces like apples if you want (but the cores are tougher to cut through - I would just leave them in)
Put in saucepan with 1 liter of water (you can use less if you want but it is harder to soften the fruit so that takes longer - but it is quicker to boil off the extra liquid at the end )
Simmer for 3 hours or more until the fruit is soft. We did it on top of the wood burning stove.
Mash the fruit with a potato masher and boil a bit more (it doesn't need mashing finely, just break the lumps up a bit)
Strain the juice off the pulp using a seive. It takes a while to come through, you can stir it with a spoon.
Strain the resulting liquid through a jelly cloth or a (white) tea towel or muslin bag - you can miss this step but the jelly will be cloudier.
Add the sugar to the liquid in a pan and boil until setting point is reached (can take some time depending on how much water you added at the beginning. You can test for set by dripping a bit of the jelly on to a cold plate - if a skin forms that you can see when you push the blob with your finger then you are there. You can also tell by how the jelly runs off the wooden spoon, if in one line it is not there yet, but if it comes off in multiple places on the spoon then you are there. The mixture also looks foamier as it is boiling once set is reached.
Put in to clean sterilised (washed in dish washer is fine) jars.
Good with meat and cheese. Maybe on bread too if you like quite a sharp taste.

I find it amazing that this (diced quinces - green on the inside and out)

Will transform in to this pink liquid (you can tell it is near setting because of the foamy boil)

which when set is this jewel coloured jelly

The medlar comes out a similar colour