This is the heart of Quince & Apple, 
our kitchen.

The Quince and Apple kitchen

Every jar or bottle we make comes out of our small downtown Madison, WI kitchen. We peel, core and cut our own fruit and our skilled artisans cook each small pot to perfection. Then we fill every single jar and bottle ourselves, personally inspect every jar and taste every batch before we pack it up and send it to you.

 

 We're proud of what we do and thought we'd share a little sneak peek into our kitchen with you.

 

The Ingredients

We start every day with real, fresh ingredients, the same as you'd use at home. We source fruit from the Midwest whenever we can and always use all natural, non-GMO ingredients. 

Cutting fresh ginger in the Quince and Apple Kitchen

Cutting and peeling fresh ginger for Pears with Honey and Ginger.

Pressing the juice from tart cherries for Tart Cherry Grenadine in the Quince and Apple kitchen.

We use old-fashioned oak presses to extract the juice from local cherries to make our Tart Cherry Grenadine.

Peeling oranges for Orange Marmalade with Lemons in the Quince and Apple kitchen

Peeling oranges for Orange Marmalade with Lemons. 

Ingredients for our Citrus syrup simmer in the pot

A pot of Citrus syrup brimming with freshly prepared aromatics.

 

Small Batches

 We've used the same small pots since day one because working in small batches allows us to ensure consistent, excellent quality. 

We use the same pots as the day we started. All of our products are made in small batches to ensure the highest quality.

These same pots have been used for every production since the day we started. 

Sometimes working in small batches means very precise measuring of ingredients.

When you're working in small batches, you need to measure your ingredients very precisely.

 

Hand Filling

At Quince & Apple, every jar or bottle we've ever made has been filled and lidded by hand. It's not the easiest way, but it means that we touch and evaluate every single jar to ensure each one is up to our exacting quality standards.

Filling preserves by hand with a ladle and funnel at Quince and Apple

Hand filling jars of Tart Cherry and White Tea preserves.

Filling Tart Cherry Grenadine bottles by hand

Filling bottles of Tart Cherry Grenadine by hand.

Ladles and funnels at the ready in the Quince and Apple kitchen.

Ladles and funnels at the ready in the Quince and Apple kitchen.

Two filling teams work side by side in the Quince and Apple kitchen.

Two filling teams working side by side.

The flip - jars are inverted to sterilize the inside of the lids.

Hand filling is a physically demanding job, but it's the only way to guarantee excellent quality in every single jar or bottle.

 

Labeling

We work hard to make sure our products look as good as they taste. Sometimes this means labeling by hand, other times we use a labeling machine to help us along. This is also the final chance to inspect every jar and bottle for any small imperfections like scratches and dents. 

Hand labeling bottles of Rhubarb Hops at Quince and Apple

Hand applying labels on a batch of Rhubarb Hops syrup.

A batch of Pear with Honey and Ginger preserves await labeling.

Batch 897 of Pear with Honey and Ginger awaits labeling. 

Readying jars of Raspberry Rose to be boxed up.

Readying jars of Raspberry Rose to be boxed up.

A finished jar of Figs and Black Tea

The end goal. As you can see, a lot of work goes into every jar!