Why it works: Rhubarb and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,852 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Rhubarb Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Combine the rhubarb and sugar in a bowl and let sit for 24 hours to draw out the juice.
Cook
Boil the sugar and rhubarb juice together for 20 minutes.
Add the rhubarb pieces and boil slowly for another 20 minutes without stirring.
Store
Store in a cool, dry place for up to a year.
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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Rhubarb + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,852 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
- Rhubarb
- Provides the tart flavour and the fruit pieces that give the jam its body.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jam and draws out juice from the rhubarb, and helps it set as it cooks.
The step that matters
Boiling the rhubarb pieces without stirring. Stirring breaks the fruit pieces apart and can make the jam cloudy or mushy. Boiling gently keeps the pieces whole while the syrup thickens around them.
“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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