Quince Season in Switzerland: Jelly, Compote and Paste

Quince season in Switzerland starts at the end of September with the early varieties. The main harvest runs through October and November (LID, 11 September 2026). Raw quinces are inedible, so every one of them needs cooking.

A bag of about 2 kg is enough for three things: a clear jelly that also uses peels and cores, a quick compote, and a firm quince paste from the pulp left in the sieve. Below you find quantities, yields, storage times and the safe way to fill jars.

Where to find quinces and which varieties

Big retailers hardly stock quinces. Your best bet is a weekly market or a farm shop (LID, 2026). The reason is fire blight, a bacterial disease first found in Switzerland in 1989. In 1951, Swiss orchards still counted 113'000 quince trees. Most were lost in the years after 1989 (Fructus, 2023).

By shape, quinces are sorted into apple quinces and pear quinces (Betty Bossi, 2021). Swiss fruit conservation groups document these varieties, among others:

How to prepare quinces

Swiss-grown quinces are hard and bitter from tannins, so they are always cooked (Betty Bossi, 2021). Step by step:

1. Rub off the fuzz. Most varieties carry a slightly oily down that tastes very bitter. Rub it off with a kitchen towel or a brush, then rinse (Swissmilk).
2. Trim. Cut away the blossom end and the stalk. A damp cloth under the chopping board stops it from slipping while you cut the hard fruit.
3. Cut only as much as needed. For jelly, unpeeled eighths with the core are enough. For compote, peel the fruit, cut it into wedges and cut out the core.
4. Stop browning. Put cut pieces straight into water with lemon juice (Betty Bossi, 2021).
5. Sort out mouldy fruit. A quince with mould goes in the bin. Mould toxins can spread into parts you cannot see (FSVO, in German).

One bag, three uses

Start with a bag of about 2 kg. Use 1.3 kg for jelly and the rest for compote. The paste comes from the jelly pulp, so nothing goes to waste.

Quince jelly with the peels and cores

Quinces are rich in pectin, so the jelly sets with plain sugar and needs no jam sugar (Betty Bossi, 2021). A lot of that pectin sits in the peel. This is why Swiss recipes cook the fruit unpeeled, cores included (Swissmilk).

1. Cut 1.3 kg of prepared quinces into eighths with peel and core. Add the peels and cores from the compote quinces.
2. Just cover with water and simmer for about 45 minutes until soft. Leave covered for 24 hours so the colour and aroma deepen.
3. Pour everything through a cloth set in a sieve and let it drip. Do not press the fruit, or the jelly turns cloudy. Keep the pulp for the paste.
4. You get about 1 litre of juice. Boil it in two batches of 5 dl, each with 350 g sugar and 1 to 2 tbsp lemon juice.
5. Boil gently for about 20 minutes, stirring now and then and skimming if needed (Swissmilk).
6. Test: put a drop on a cold plate. If it is no longer fully liquid, the jelly is ready.
7. Fill the hot jelly into prepared jars straight away and close them (see the jar tips below).

Each 5 dl batch gives about 800 g of jelly (Swissmilk). The ratio is 70 g sugar per decilitre of juice, the same as in the Migusto recipe (Migusto, 2012).

Quince compote in about 30 minutes

Compote is the fastest way to use quinces. This version mixes them with apples.

1. Put 500 g of peeled quince pieces and 300 g of peeled apple pieces in a pan with 2 dl apple juice.
2. Cook for 25 to 30 minutes until soft, or for about 10 minutes in a pressure cooker.
3. Purée or leave chunky. Stir in 1 tbsp lemon juice and a sachet of vanilla sugar, then add sugar to taste.

This makes 4 portions, based on a recipe from the Swiss farm women's association SBLV (Swissmilk). Serve it with yogurt, Quark or whipped cream. Keep leftovers in the fridge and eat them within a few days.

Quince paste from the leftover pulp

In German-speaking Switzerland, quince paste is called Quittenpästli. The orange, sugar-coated cubes are part of the Culinary Heritage of Switzerland. They are made in autumn, mostly in Central Switzerland, Aargau and Basel-Landschaft. In Zurich they are a Christmas speciality (LID, 11 September 2026).

1. Push the drained jelly pulp through a fine sieve or a Passe-vite, taking care not to crush the seeds. Peels and cores stay behind.
2. Weigh the purée and add the same weight of sugar (Swissmilk).
3. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until a spoon stands up in it or it comes away from the base of the pan. The thick purée spits, so use a long spoon.
4. Spread it 1 cm thick on baking paper. Let it dry at room temperature for 2 to 4 days, turning it once.
5. When both sides feel dry, cut it into cubes and roll them in sugar.

Stored in a closed tin with baking paper between the layers, the cubes keep for about 2 months (Swissmilk).

Storing quinces and filling jars safely

• Fresh quinces: fully ripe fruit keeps for about 2 to 4 weeks in a cool place. Fruit picked just ripe keeps for 2 to 3 months at 2 to 7°C in a well-ventilated spot (Swissmilk).
• Keep them apart: other fruit takes on their strong aroma. Use flat, wide crates, as pressure marks rot quickly.
• Freezing: peel, quarter and core the fruit. Blanch for 5 to 10 minutes, cool in ice water, dry and freeze in labelled bags. They keep for about 6 months (Swissmilk).
• Jars: use clean jars rinsed with boiling water. Fill the hot jelly almost to the rim and close the lid at once (Swissmilk).
• Mould: if mould appears on jelly or compote, throw the whole jar away. Scraping it off is not enough, and cooking does not remove mould toxins (FSVO, in German).

More on jars and lids: our guide to canning safely. For the apples in the compote, see Swiss apple season.

Where Eini fits

Quinces are mostly a market or farm-shop buy. Eini's Groceries module plans lunch and dinner around the week's promotions at Coop, Migros, Lidl, Aldi, Denner and Aligro. It also writes your shopping list. See how the meal planner app works.