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Dessert

Fig and Rhubarb Jam

A jam made from figs and rhubarb cooked with water and sugar until thick.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Fig and rhubarb share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 48 recipes. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol, which smells clove, smoky. The science ↓

Fig and Rhubarb Jam

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the figs and rhubarb into small pieces.

Make the jam

  1. Cook in a little water until soft.

  2. Add sugar equal to the quantity of rhubarb.

  3. Simmer until smooth and thick.

Jar

  1. Pour into Perfect Seal Jars and seal immediately.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Fig + rhubarbtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together48 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

  2. Fig + sugartop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,241 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Rhubarb + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,852 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

Figs
Provide the main fruit flavour and body, softening into the jam.
Rhubarb
Adds tartness that balances the sweetness of the sugar and figs.
Sugar
Sweetens the jam and helps it thicken as it simmers.

The step that matters

Simmer until smooth and thick. Sugar and fruit need enough cooking for the pectin in the fruit to set. Stopping too early leaves a runny jam, while overcooking can make it dark and sticky.

Swap the rhubarb

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fig, sugar):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Rhubarbthe original
  3. Nutmegfits about as well
  4. Clovefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against fig, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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