Why it works: Sugar and pumpkin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,350 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Fruit Jams
Ingredients
Directions
Make the jam
Boil fresh fruit with 1 quart of water for every 20 pounds of fruit.
Dissolve 4 parts sugar.
Boil until it reaches a jelly-like consistency when dropped from a spoon.
For second grade jam, use 100 lbs of fruit pulp.
Use 30 lbs of sugar and glucose.
Add 1 ¼ pounds of dissolved Japanese gelatine before canning.
Prepare fruit in syrup and can
Prepare fruits like cherries and strawberries in hot syrup at 24° Beaume.
Boil for 3 minutes.
Repeat after 12 hours.
Cover fruits with hot syrup at 32° Beaume.
Seal.
Process for 35 minutes at 225°F.
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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Sugar + pumpkintop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,350 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fresh fruit
- Provides the main flavour, colour and pectin-bearing body of the jam.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jam and, with boiling, helps it thicken to a set.
- Japanese gelatine
- Adds extra setting power to help the jam hold its shape.
The step that matters
Boil until a jelly-like consistency. Boiling must drive off enough water and concentrate the sugar and fruit pectin for the jam to set. Too little boiling leaves it runny; too much makes it stiff and can scorch the sugar.
“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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