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Dessert

Jam of Morello Cherries

Jam made from ripe morello cherries, sugar, and optional blanched cherry kernels.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Sugar and cherry are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,598 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Jam of Morello Cherries

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cherries

  1. Stone the cherries and weigh them.

  2. Heat the cherries slowly to draw out the juice.

Make the jam

  1. Boil the cherries quickly for 20 minutes over a clear fire.

  2. Gradually add 2 cups of sugar, beaten to powder, and stir until dissolved.

  3. Boil the jam for an additional 15 to 20 minutes, skimming off any scum.

  4. If desired, add a few blanched and dried cherry kernels 2 minutes before pouring out the 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.

  1. Sugar + cherrytop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,598 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

Morello cherries
Provide the fruit, pectin and acidity that give the jam its flavour and body.
Granulated sugar
Sweetens the jam and helps it set to a spreadable thickness as it cooks.

The step that matters

Adding the sugar. Sugar added to hot fruit can scorch on the pan base if not stirred, and it must fully dissolve before the long boil so the jam sets evenly and does not turn grainy.

“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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