Why it works: Plum and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,313 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Plum Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Boil plums in as little water as possible until soft.
Strain the plums through a sieve.
Add ¾ pound of granulated sugar for every pound of plums.
Boil slowly and stir constantly until the juice begins to jell.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Plum + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,313 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Plums
- Provide pectin, acid and fruit flavour that set and flavour the jam.
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the jam and helps it set by binding water and concentrating pectin.
The step that matters
Boil slowly and stir constantly until the juice begins to jell. Sugar and pectin only set when the mixture reaches a high enough concentration. Stirring prevents sugar from scorching on the bottom of the pan, which would give a burnt taste. Stopping too early leaves the jam runny, while boiling too long can make it stiff and dull in flavour.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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