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Dessert

Citron Preserves

A preserve made from citron, sugar, raisins, and lemon, simmered for an hour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Goff, May Perrin, [from old catalog] ed · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and raisin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,481 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Citron Preserves

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the citron

  1. Peel and cut the citron into pieces an inch square.

  2. Boil in weak alum water until soft.

  3. Drain off the water.

Make the preserve

  1. Add one pound of sugar to each pound of citron.

  2. To every five pounds of the preserve add one pound of raisins and one lemon sliced.

  3. Dissolve sugar. When hot add the fruit.

  4. Simmer slowly for one hour.

  5. Optionally leave out raisins, if preferred.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

123Calories
1 gProtein
0 gFat
32 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Goff, May Perrin, [from old catalog] ed. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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. See the original page.

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.

  1. Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Raisin + lemontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,742 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Citron
Forms the main body of the preserve and becomes tender when boiled.
Sugar
Sweetens the preserve and helps it set into a thick, spreadable texture.
Raisins
Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness to the finished preserve.
Lemon
Adds acidity and bright flavour that balances the sugar.

The step that matters

Simmer slowly for one hour. Sugar must dissolve fully before the fruit goes in, and a gentle simmer lets the sugar penetrate the citron and thicken the syrup without scorching. Too fast a boil can burn the sugar and toughen the fruit.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, raisin):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Datesfits about as well
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, raisin. 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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