Quince Wine

This recipe is drawn from an anonymous 1760 Dorset and Wiltshire receipt book, reflecting the home-based preservation and beverage-making practices common in Georgian England. Such compendia were prized by households for their practical guidance on everything from preserves and cordials to wines and punches, echoing both rural ingenuity and a growing 18th-century interest in experimenting with all manner of fruits—beyond the ubiquitous grape—for winemaking. Quince wine in this context was a way to transform a hard, aromatic fruit—often too astringent for eating raw—into a delicate, floral-scented beverage, suitable for genteel tables, special occasions, or medicinal use.

The original recipe would have been accomplished with simple but robust household tools: a sharp paring knife for cleaning quinces, a grater for pulping the fruit, and stout linen or muslin cloths for pressing out juice by hand or with a screw-style press. A large earthenware jug or stoneware crock served as the fermentation vessel, covered by a cloth or loose-fitting lid to allow fermentation gases to escape. Sediment settling and bottling would have required clean glass bottles (often reused) and corks, with pour-off or siphoning done carefully by hand.