Name: Pineapple Preserves
Ingredients: 12 pounds pineapple, peeled and cored; 6 pounds dry granulated sugar; 4 pounds sugar (for second syrup); water (for blanching)

Why it works: Sugar and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Pineapple Preserves

Ingredients

12 pounds pineapple, peeled and cored
6 pounds dry granulated sugar
4 pounds sugar (for second syrup)
water (for blanching)

Directions

Prepare the fruit

Blanch the peeled and cored pineapple in boiling water for 15 minutes.
Drain the pineapple well and place it in cooling pans.
Add 6 pounds of sugar to the pineapple.
Stir the pineapple until all the sugar dissolves.
Let the pineapple sit for 24 hours.
Drain the pineapple again.

Make the syrup

In a kettle, combine the syrup with 4 pounds of sugar and cook to 28 degrees on a syrup scale.
Cool the syrup to 200°F (93°C).
Cover the pineapple with the cooled syrup.
Let the pineapple sit for another 24 hours.
Drain the pineapple a second time.

Cook and bottle

Boil the syrup and add the pineapple, cooking to 218°F (103°C).
Transfer the preserves to cooling pans and let them sit in the syrup for 24 hours before bottling.
Process the jars for 30 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.

Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,842 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Pineapple + syruptop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together568 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Pineapple + sugartop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,841 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Pineapple: Forms the body of the preserves and gives up its juice to the sugar syrup.
Granulated sugar: Draws water out of the fruit and builds a concentrated syrup for sweetness and preservation.

The step that matters

Cooking the preserves to 218°F (103°C). This temperature sets the sugar concentration that helps preserve the fruit and gives a proper thick texture. Stopping early leaves the preserves runny and prone to spoilage, while cooking too long can make them hard or sugary.