“Good friends are to have many of.” ~ Japanese proverb
One such good friend I found is Fariba of Zozobaking. Fariba, a beautiful person, both inside and out, who just got married, has been a passionate baker since childhood and also, by formal training. She first studied at the San Francisco Baking Institute and later at Lenotre School in Paris. Today, Fariba teaches baking classes, where her students learn to create traditional home-baked pastries and desserts. Fariba also bakes for sale at her licensed home kitchen. When I saw the color of Fariba’s Mom’s quince preserves in Fariba’s article, Kerman, Copper Bazaar, and Quince Jam, I asked her, if it was not a family secret, if she would share her Mom’s recipe with me. Fariba immediately e-mailed me the method recipe. Thanks to her, I did not miss this quince season and made three jars of aromatic quince preserve!
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Murabba, also morabba, is an Arabic word that refers to sweet or savory jams, preserves and pickles, in many regions of Iran, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Pakistan, and North India. It is traditionally sweet, prepared with raw fruits, sugar and spices. In Iran, morabba is synonymous with sweet preserves/jams, mainly of fruits and flowers. Quince, cousin of apples and pears, is one of the most favored fruit preserves in Iran. It is known that copper pots are ideal for making quince preserves.This is because copper gives them the favorable, dark pink color (like a maroon glass), which Fariba’s Mom’s quince preserves had. Although I do not have a copper pot, I used Fariba’s Mom’s recipe as my valued benchmark and incorporated just a few of my twists (as we foodies are known to do) in the method and in flavoring/aroma to what was already a fantastic recipe.
Quince Preserves | Morabba'ye Beh • مربای به
Recipe by: Fae’s Twist & Tango (fae-magazine.com) adapted from
method recipe of “The Mom” of Fariba of ZozoBaking (zozobaking.com)
INGREDIENTS
• 800 g / 1¾ lb quince before peeling/coring (about 2 medium~large size)
• 700 g / 3½ cups granulated sugar
• 400 ml / 1 2/3 cups water
• 10 ~ 12 green cardamom pods crushed for good black seeds (avoid pods with dried, brown seeds)
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp rosewater
Also needed are:
• 1 bouquet garni pouch to put the cardamom seeds in
• sterilized glass jars with tight lids for 900 ml of preserves.
DIRECTIONS
◊ Into a medium-sized saucepan that has a lid, add one-third of sugar and place it by the cutting board.
![[*]](https://faestwistandtango.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/tictactoe.png)
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◊ When all cutting and peeling is done, and quince pieces are in the saucepan, add water to the saucepan and bring to a boil on high-heat. Swirl the saucepan to have evenly distributed/stirred the quince pieces in the saucepan. Once fully boiling and sugar has dissolved, lower the heat to “between medium-low and low”. To steep the quince, wrap the lid of the saucepan with a clean kitchen-towel or use 2 ~ 3 layers of paper-towel, and tightly cover the saucepan. (This helps the quince change into reddish beautiful color.) Let it simmer for 2¼ hours. No peeking. No mixing necessary.
◊ Take the lid off. The quince already changed color to medium-peach color. Add the remainder of the sugar all over, cardamon-seeds-bouquet-garni, lemon juice, rose water, and swirl the saucepan. Increase the heat to high and bring to a full boil (this happens very quickly, so stay near the saucepan). Make sure all sugar is dissolved, turn off the heat and remove the saucepan. Let it cool down to warm. While cooling, swirl the saucepan a few times.
◊ When warm (not completely cooled), take out the bouquet garni, gently scoop and fill the jars. Immediately, tightly close the jar lids. Store them in cool, dark place, or like me, refrigerate.
◊ Serve in old-fashioned style at breakfast table, use as ice-cream topping, as cake filling or just for sweet bites at tea time.
~ ! نوش جان • Noushe jan! ~
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Wishing You & Yours Happy Holidays !!!
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→ Look, I made it!
2015-02-13
Quince: A Love Story “I recently discovered in a great food blog, another interesting use for quince. It is a Persian recipe for quince preserves with cardamom and rose water. I had to try it!”
~ Asmae of Silly Apron
I love it!
Yes, me too! 😀 )))
Wow, Fae… this quince preserve has such a beautiful color! I’ve never had quince… I was intrigued with the recipes from both John and Ronit and now here you are posting one… I really must discover what both my palate and nose are missing! It sounds delightfully delicious. 🙂
Nancy, You must try quince. The aroma and the taste is sublime. I am going to also post a quince stew. Quince are still in season. Give it a go. 🙂
These sound so good, Fae! Hope you had a wonderful holiday!
Thank you, Nancy. Still enjoying the holidays! 🙂
I also have never tasted quince but you have made it look so pretty and vibrant. A show stopper. Wishing you a super 2015!
Thank you so much dear Bam! I wish you and yours super 2015 too! 🙂
I have never made quince preserves before but they sure do look good – love the color 🙂
Quince has a special aroma and color, which makes it so desirable. If you get a chance, I highly recommend for giving it a try. Check out Maria’s Dulce de Membrillo for another yummy thing to make from quince. 😛
Looks delicious! Happy holidays!
Happy New Year, Sweet Nell!
The colour of this quince preserve is absolutely stunning Fae! Lovely that you were able to make up a batch of this seasonal delicacy! 🙂
I am too, Margot! I bought a couple more quince make the stew next! 😀 )))
This is a gorgeous moraba and expected nothing less from you powered by Fariba! Happy Holidays to you and your family and wishing you a glittery, sparkly, delicious year ahead dear Fae! xoxo, love azita
Oh Darling Azita, Thank you for all the glittery good wishes. I wish you Health, Happiness Love and Success for the New Year 2015 and beyond. Morabba did turn out marvelous, hasn’t it. 😀 )))
Happy Holidays, Fae!
Your preserves have that deep, rich coloring, Fae, that only quince can give. How lovely! I made quince jelly last year and, although it tasted quite good, the recipe didn’t allow it to simmer long enough. As a result, the color never really developed. Your post is prodding me to try again. 🙂
Thank you John. I’m no authority about jellies/jams/preserves. From my understanding, wrapping the pot-lid to avoid any drippage of the steam drops, and simmering on low for a long time brings out the color. I just re-read your Dec 4, 2013 See Quince? Make Jam First Then Jelly post, and also looked at my comment about the post. I’m glad I finally got to make the preserve. I do appreciate jams and jellies, but preserves are something else, in my opinion. There are still quince in the stores. My next challenge with quince is to use them in a savory dish/stew. 🙂
Oh, I cannot wait to see those dishes, Fae. I think I did see quince last week in a grocery but, right now, the missing ingredient is time. I just don’t have much of it these days, a problem I bet you share. 🙂
Love quince so much,I love everything about this fruit. It is a noble fruit. Very popular in my country too. I posted on my Instagram a similar recipe and last year I made Quince Paste. I used Iranian quince, they are on sale in the market and the smell is gorgeous. Happy Holidays, Fae 🙂
http://lapetitepaniere.com/2014/02/28/quince-paste-pate-de-coing/
I like how you put it, ‘it is a noble fruit’. Looking at your link, yes, I do remember your delectable quince paste. Also, I checked out your Instagram on fabulous quince tajini! In the Persian cuisine also, we have a quince stew (simmered the same way like tajini). Thank you for leaving a link here. Happy Holidays to you & yours! 🙂
The quince preserves are beautiful, I also checked out Fariba’s site and wow, she is immensely talented. What gorgeous work and I am sure that her baked goods are incredibly delicious. Great recipe Fae thank you for sharing. I have never cooked quince before, it’s time I try.
Thank you for checking out Fariba’s blog. She made all her wedding sweets too! You should definitely try cooking with quince. 🙂 (Its availability is only during this season. I wonder why, when other fruits and vegetables are available all year long 🙁 ).
This is very elegant. Quince, a new thing to learn. Thank you! Happy holidays!
Thank you, and Happy Holidays to you too! 🙂
Quince is such an amazing fruit both is savory and sweet dishes.
The color you have achieved here is so very beautiful! I’ve found out that not all quince can give such deep red color. Sometimes I end up with deep pink…
I usually cook it without spices, but I can see how these go well here.
I also make quince squares – they never last too long… If interested, check out my recipe in the following link: http://ronitpenso.wordpress.com/2013/12/15/sweet-and-tasty-quince-squares/
Oh Ronit, I just saw your quince squares. They look marvelous! As for the dark/deep maroon’ish color of quince, from my understanding, wrapping the pot-lid to avoid any drippage of the steam drops, and simmering on low for a long time does it. Thank you for your comment and direction to your post! 🙂
Thank you Fae! Glad you liked the squares. 🙂
Thanks for the tip – I will try your method next time I’ll find nice quince. 🙂
This looks so beautiful, the color is gorgeous. You were fortunate to have your friend share her family recipe, and thanks now for sharing it with all of us Fae. I love the bit of history you’ve provided.
Yes, I am surrounded by wonderful friends, both in real life and through blogging. I’m glad you liked the post/recipe. 🙂
It’s funny I just made a quince paste the Spanish way with vanilla, anise, orange peels and cinemanon. In Morocco we cook quince in a lamb tajine, my favorite! But I would really like to try Fariba’s recipe! The color is gorgeous! Thank you for sharing!
Your Spanish style quince paste sounds marvelous! Very similar to your Moroccan quince/lamb tajine, in Persian cuisine also, we have khoresh’e beh/quince stew, which I shall post some day. You inspired me, I feel like running to the store to get some quince (while in season) to make the stew. 😀 )))
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You know I have never tasted quince……This looks yummy! Happy Holidays my dear~
Oh, Darling Cindy, we must change that! 😀 ))) Happy Holidays to you and yours too! <3
I’m with Cindy, never tasted quince, maybe once but really I’m not sure. At any rate, it was a long time ago and I’ve forgotten about it. But I remember it had such a wonderful scent. I keep wanting to get one to put in my car to perfume it 😀 Happy Holidays, Fae! <3
If I had a big backyard, I would have had a quince tree. To cook some and to give some. Check out Ronit’s post (above in the comments), that is a good way of making it too! Happy Holidays to you and yours, Darling Angie! <3