Why it works: Pineapple and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,841 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Pineapple Syrup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the juice
Remove the rough outer peel from the pineapples and grate the trimmings.
Press the grated trimmings to extract the juice.
Make the syrup
In a kettle, combine the juice with 12 pounds of granulated sugar and 1 ounce of benzoate of soda.
Heat the mixture on steam until it reaches a boiling point of 212°F (100°C).
Fill hot syrup into jugs, ensuring the temperature does not drop below 200°F (93°C).
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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Pineapple + sugartop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Granulated sugar
- Provides sweetness and body, and thickens the syrup as it is concentrated.
- Pineapple trimmings
- Supply the juice that gives the syrup its pineapple flavor.
- Benzoate of soda
- Acts as a preservative that helps inhibit spoilage in the finished syrup.
The step that matters
Keeping the syrup hot when filling jugs. If the syrup cools too much before filling, it can be less safe for storage and may thicken unevenly. Keeping it hot, as the record specifies, helps it stay stable and fill cleanly.
“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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