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Dessert

Blue and Dampson Plum Preserves

Preserves made from blue or dampson plums, sugar, and water, cooked to a jam consistency.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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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 ↓

Blue and Dampson Plum Preserves

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Cook the plums in water for 15 minutes until the pits are exposed or the plums are broken up.

  2. Add the sugar and cook until the mixture reaches 220°F (104°C).

  3. Process the preserves for 35 minutes at 180°F (82°C).

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. Plum + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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

Blue or dampson plums
Provide the fruit, pectin and acidity that give the preserves their body and flavor.
Granulated sugar
Adds sweetness and, with cooking, helps thicken the preserves and preserve them.
Water
Helps the plums soften and break down evenly during the initial cooking.

The step that matters

Cooking the mixture to 220°F (104°C) after adding the sugar. Sugar must dissolve and the mixture must reach the set point; too little cooking leaves the preserves runny, while overcooking can make them stiff, dark, or sugary.

“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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