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Dessert

Nectarine Jam

A jam made from nectarines, brown sugar, vinegar, and cloves.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,806 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Nectarine Jam

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Boil the whole cloves in a bag to extract flavor.

Cook the jam

  1. In a large pot, combine nectarines, brown sugar, vinegar, and the bag of cloves.

  2. Boil for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

Finish

  1. Pour the jam into cups or glasses and seal.

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. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

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

  2. Vinegar + clovetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,386 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Sugar + clovetop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together17,182 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

Sugar and clove barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 17,182 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

Nectarines
Provide the fruit base and bulk of the jam's flavor and body.
Brown sugar
Sweetens the jam and helps it thicken as it cooks down.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that balances the sweetness and brightens the fruit flavor.
Whole cloves
Infuse warm, aromatic spice into the jam while it cooks.

The step that matters

Boil for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Long boiling drives off water and concentrates sugar and fruit pectin so the jam sets. Stirring helps prevent sticking and scorching on the bottom of the pot.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Peppermintfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, vinegar. 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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