Why it works: Walnut and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 26% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,147 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Green Gooseberry Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Cut the green gooseberries in half and remove the seeds.
Soak them in water and drain on a sieve.
In a marble mortar, mash the gooseberries with an equal weight of sugar.
Make the jam
Boil a quart of gooseberries in a quart of water until mushy, then strain the liquid.
For every pint of liquid, add one pound of sugar and boil, skimming as needed.
Add the green gooseberries and boil until thick and clear.
Transfer to jars for storage.
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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Walnut + sugartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,147 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Gooseberries
- Provide the fruit body, pectin and tartness that give the jam its flavour and set.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jam and, with boiling, thickens it and helps it keep.
The step that matters
Boiling until thick and clear. Jam sets only when enough sugar and fruit pectin are concentrated by boiling. Stopping too early leaves it runny, while overcooking can make it dull and sticky.
“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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