Name: Green Fig Preserve
Ingredients: green figs (½ to ⅔ grown); sugar (1 pound for each pound of figs); water (a little more than usual)

Why it works: Fig and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,241 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Green Fig Preserve

Ingredients

green figs (½ to ⅔ grown)
sugar (1 pound for each pound of figs)
water (a little more than usual)

Directions

Prepare the figs

Make a cross-cut in each fig from the top to halfway down.
Soak the cut figs in cold water for at least 12 hours.
Optionally, add a small lump of quicklime to the water.
Drain the figs and parboil them in fresh water until they can be pierced with a straw.

Make the preserve

Drain again and boil the figs in the syrup until perfectly clear.

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.

Fig + sugartop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,241 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Green figs: Provide the fruit that is softened, cooked and turned translucent in the syrup.
Sugar: Sweetens the fruit and, as it penetrates the figs, helps preserve them and keep their shape.

The step that matters

Boil the figs in the syrup until perfectly clear. Sugar must slowly replace the water in the fig tissue to make the fruit translucent. Simmering gently keeps the figs whole, while vigorous boiling can split the skins and turn the flesh mushy.

“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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Green Fig Preserve