Why it works: Plum and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,313 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Plum Marmalade
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the pulp
If plums are not ripe enough, boil them in water until tender.
Drain the plums and pass them through a fine sieve.
Weigh the pulp and reduce it on the fire to half its volume.
Make the marmalade
For every pound of pulp, use 12 ounces of sugar, clarify it, and boil it to the little crack stage.
Add the pulp to the sugar and continue to boil, stirring until done.
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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Plum + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,313 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
- Plum pulp
- Provides the fruit flavor, body, and natural pectin that helps the marmalade set.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness, preserves the fruit, and helps the mixture thicken and set as it concentrates.
The step that matters
Adding the pulp to the boiling sugar. Stirring while the mixture boils keeps the thick sugar from scorching on the bottom of the pan. The mixture must boil long enough to reach the concentration needed for the pectin and sugar to gel.
“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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