Why it works: Syrup and sugar match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Barteett Pears
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare and fill
Select pears that are at least 2½ inches in diameter and peel them by hand.
Fill cans with the pears, leaving a ¼ inch space at the top.
Prepare a syrup with at least 38% sugar and fill the cans to the top.
Seal and process
Seal the cans, leaving a small hole in the top.
Place the cans in boiling water for 5 minutes.
Remove the cans, seal the hole, and cook in boiling water for 18 minutes, adjusting for the ripeness of the fruit.
Cool the cans in cold water.
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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Syrup + sugartop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,842 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Pear + syruptop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together254 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Pear + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,079 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pears
- Provide the fruit flesh, which softens during cooking and gives the preserve its texture and flavour.
- Sugar syrup
- Adds sweetness and helps the pears keep their shape and moisture during processing.
The step that matters
Sealing the hole after the first boil. The hole lets air and steam escape during the first 5-minute boil. Sealing it before the 18-minute boil traps the contents and creates the vacuum that keeps the cans preserved. Leaving it open would let air and spoilage organisms back in.
Swap the pear
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (syrup, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Pearthe original
- Apricotfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against syrup, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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