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Dessert

Fig Conserve

A sweet preserve made from lemons, raisins, figs, oranges, sugar, pecans, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and orange match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Fig Conserve

Ingredients

Directions

Make the preserve

  1. Combine all ingredients except the pecans in a large pot.

  2. Cook over medium heat, stirring until the mixture thickens.

  3. Add the pecans ten minutes before removing from heat.

Jar

  1. Pour the conserve into pint jars.

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.

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. Lemon + orangetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Fig + orangetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together407 recipes

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

  3. Fig + pecanstop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together93 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  4. Raisin + figtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together737 recipes

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

  5. Lemon + figtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together763 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

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

What each ingredient does

Figs
Provide the bulk of the preserve and its sweet, fruity flavor.
White sugar
Sweetens the preserve and helps it thicken as it cooks down.
Raisins
Add concentrated sweetness and chewy body to the preserve.
Lemons
Add acidity that brightens the flavor and balances the sugar.
Pecans
Add crunch and a toasty, nutty contrast to the soft fruit.

The step that matters

Cooking until the mixture thickens. Fruit and sugar must cook long enough for water to evaporate and pectin to set the mixture. Stopping early leaves a runny preserve, while overcooking can scorch the sugar on the bottom of the pot.

Swap the pecans

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

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Pistachiofits better
  3. Chestnutfits better
  4. Pecansthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, raisin, fig, orange, sugar. 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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