Name: Greengages in Brandy
Ingredients: Greengages (unripe, dark green); 1 ounce common salt (per 2 gallons of water); 2 ounces alum (per 6 gallons of water); 5 quarts proof spirit; 2 quarts water; Syrup at 32°; Vanilla infusion (a few drachms) or vanillin

Why it works: Syrup and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,855 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Greengages in Brandy

Ingredients

Greengages (unripe, dark green)
1 ounce common salt (per 2 gallons of water)
2 ounces alum (per 6 gallons of water)
5 quarts proof spirit
2 quarts water
Syrup at 32°
Vanilla infusion (a few drachms) or vanillin

Directions

Prepare the fruit

Cut the stem of the greengages, leaving two-thirds attached.
Prick the greengages with copper pins.
Wash the greengages in cold water.

Blanch and firm

Combine water and salt in a copper kettle.
Heat the mixture slowly until it reaches 205°F.
Remove the greengages gently with a skimmer.
Transfer the greengages to a cold water bath with alum.
Wait one hour.
Let the greengages dry for another hour on white willow trays.

Syrup and bottling

Place the greengages in earthenware jars.
Pour hot sugar syrup over the greengages.
Drain the greengages a few hours later.
Reboil the sugar syrup.
Pour the reboiled syrup over the greengages again.
Repeat the process with syrup at 27°.
Repeat the process with syrup at 28° after 26 hours.
Drain the greengages.
Bottle the liquor.

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.

Syrup + vanillatop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,855 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Spirit + vanillatop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together53 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Spirit + syruptop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together141 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Greengages: The main fruit; its firm, unripe flesh holds shape through the brine, alum and syrup treatments.
Alum: Firms the fruit flesh so it keeps its shape during the long syrup soaking.
Sugar syrup: Sweetens the fruit and, through repeated soaking, draws in sweetness and moisture.
Proof spirit: Acts as the preserving liquor that keeps the fruit stable in the bottle.

The step that matters

Reheating the salt water to 205°F and removing the fruit gently. Holding the water at a controlled temperature and lifting the greengages out carefully keeps the skins intact, so the fruit firms without bursting or going soft before the alum and syrup stages.

“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.