Why it works: Peas and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 31% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,928 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Green Peas
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the peas
Shell the peas and cook them in boiling water for five minutes.
Plunge the peas into cold water, then pack them into jars.
Fill and seal the jars
Fill the jars with water, adding 1 teaspoon of sugar for every pint and salt if desired.
Adjust the rubbers and screw down the lids loosely, or adjust the wire clamp on spring-top jars without fastening.
Sterilize over three days
Pack the jars in a boiler and sterilize for one hour.
Tighten the covers and let the jars cool in the boiler for 24 hours.
The next day, sterilize again for one hour, loosening the lids to release steam.
Repeat the sterilization process on the third day, then tighten the lids or clamps and store in a 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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Peas + sugartop 31% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,928 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
- Tender peas
- Are the main food being preserved, so their texture and flavor carry through the jar.
- Sugar
- Adds a little sweetness that balances the mild, earthy taste of the peas.
The step that matters
Loosen the lids during the repeated sterilization. Jars sealed tight while steam is still building can strain or break, and trapped steam can disturb the seal. Loosening the lids lets steam escape, while the repeated heating helps destroy microorganisms that survive a single heating.
“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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