Name: Quince and Fig Jam
Ingredients: quinces; figs; sugar

Why it works: Quince and fig share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 24 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

Quince and Fig Jam

Ingredients

quinces
figs
sugar

Directions

Blanch quinces and figs until soft.
Run the softened fruit through a coarse chopping machine.
Combine the chopped fruit with sugar and cook until thickened, following the same process as for peach jam.

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.

Quince + figtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together24 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Fig + sugartop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,241 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Quince + sugartop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,444 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).