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Dessert

Rhubarb Conserve

A sweet preserve made from rhubarb, sugar, raisins, walnuts, and orange zest and juice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Rhubarb and orange work together. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 299 recipes. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol, which smells clove, smoky. The science ↓

Rhubarb Conserve

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the fruit

  1. Combine sugar, rhubarb, raisins, walnuts, orange rind, and orange juice in a large pot.

  2. Cook over medium heat for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally until thickened.

Jar

  1. Pour into sterilized jars 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. Rhubarb + orangetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together299 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

  2. Rhubarb + walnuttop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together73 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Rhubarb + raisintop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together47 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Walnut + orangetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  5. Raisin + orangetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,684 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

Sugar
Adds sweetness and, as it concentrates, helps the conserve thicken and keep.
Rhubarb
Provides the bulk of the fruit and a tart flavour that balances the sugar.
Raisins
Add concentrated sweetness and a chewy texture.
English walnuts
Add crunch and a richer, nutty flavour against the soft fruit.
Orange
Adds acidity and bright citrus aroma from the rind and juice.

The step that matters

Cook until thickened. As water evaporates, the sugar and fruit concentrate and the mixture thickens. Stirring often keeps the sugar-rich mix from scorching on the bottom of the pot, which would make it taste bitter.

Swap the walnut

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

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

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