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 Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Extract the juice
Cook the plums until they are soft, then strain to extract the juice.
Measure the juice and add an equal weight of hot sugar.
Cook and jar
Boil the mixture for 20 minutes.
Pour the jelly into sterilized jars with perfect seals.
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
- Plum juice
- Provides the fruit flavour and the natural pectin and acid that help the jelly set.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and, once boiled with the juice, helps the jelly thicken and set.
The step that matters
Boil the mixture for 20 minutes. Boiling evaporates water and concentrates the sugar and pectin. Boiling too briefly leaves the jelly runny, while boiling too long can make it stiff or 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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