Why it works: Tomato and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 33% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,667 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Tomatoes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the tomatoes
Select medium-sized, firm tomatoes without spots or decay.
Blanch tomatoes in boiling water for 1 to 1½ minutes.
Plunge tomatoes into cold water.
Core and peel the tomatoes promptly.
Pack and season
Pack tomatoes into jars or cans closely to minimize air.
For home use, fill with thick tomato sauce.
For sale, do not add juice or water.
Season with salt and sugar per quart.
Process and store
Process in a water bath for 25 to 30 minutes.
Process under steam pressure for 10 to 15 minutes.
Remove jars from the canner.
Seal immediately.
Cool tin cans quickly in cold water.
Store in a dark, dry, cool place.
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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Tomato + sugartop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,667 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Firm, uniformly red, ripe tomatoes
- Provide the bulk, acidity and flavour of the finished canned tomatoes.
- Salt
- Seasons the tomatoes and adds flavour to the packed contents.
- Sugar
- Balances the acidity of the tomatoes and rounds out their flavour.
The step that matters
Process to a safe time and temperature. Tomatoes are acidic but not acidic enough to prevent botulism reliably, so heat processing for the full stated time destroys spoilage microbes and makes the seal safe. Under-processing risks spoilage; sealing immediately after removal helps create a vacuum that keeps air out.
“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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