Spiced Quinces

Just some preliminary notes, as I'm not supposed to open these jars for a month or two: a few things weren't entirely clear from the recipe, or I suspect they didn't go entirely the way they should have.

First, you're supposed to simmer the quinces twice for 10 minutes, though the second time around, the recipe notes 'or until the fruit is tender' - actually, they already started to fall apart when I removed them after the first 10 minutes. So I just subjected them to a quick boil to make sure they were warm again before I placed them into the jars.

Then, the recipe doesn't say anything about how full the jars should be once you've got the quinces tucked in there - I ended up re-distributing them, using one jar more than expected, because I figured that otherwise I would never ever manage to get rid of even half the syrup, and also the syrup wouldn't cover the quinces (I actually could have spared me that thought because the quinces float).

Judging the thickness of a syrup while hot is quite difficult anyway; but after cooking the liquid for 10 minutes, it didn't look thick at all to me, and additionally, it was still way too much. I cooked it for another 10 minutes, and I'm still not quite sure how thick it will be when cooled. We'll see. I used only three huge quinces, weighing about half a kilo each, cut into 16 parts because they were so large; I used 1200 of the 1400 ml cooking liquid, and I still have quite a bit of syrup left over (500 ml to be precise). Because the quantity of the quinces was only given as an amount of quinces, and not as weight, I also had no idea how much salt I should use “ I used ¼ tsp, but I suspect I could have used a lot more.

Last, I never again want to read a recipe that contains a sentence like 'add (...), 1 tsp coriander seeds and 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, both of which have been gently roasted in a heavy frying pan'. Why for heaven's sake would anyone expect it to be a good idea to first mention step 2, and only then mention step 1? You would expect a professional to know better...