Why it works: Sugar and lime are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 29% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,332 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Brazil-Cherry Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Clean and dry the Brazil cherries.
Weigh the cherries and measure an equal weight of sugar.
Cook the jam
Add the cherries and lime juice to an enamelled pan and boil gently for 10 minutes.
Optionally prick each cherry before boiling.
Gradually add the sugar by spoonfuls, stirring continuously.
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 + limetop 29% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,332 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
- Brazil cherries
- Provide the fruit, flavour and body that make up the jam.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jam and helps it thicken and keep as it sets.
- Lime juice
- Adds acidity that brightens flavour and helps the pectin set.
The step that matters
Gradually add the sugar by spoonfuls, stirring continuously. Adding sugar slowly lets each portion dissolve fully before the next. Dumping it in at once can leave undissolved crystals and make the bottom of the pan scorch and stick.
“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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