Why it works: Tomato and clove are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,474 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓
Preserves, Jellies, Etc
Ingredients
Directions
Turn the tomatoes over once before putting them back into the syrup.
Pour the syrup that gathers in the dish back into the kettle.
Boil the syrup down as low as possible, then boil briskly without letting it catch.
Add the whole cloves and tomatoes, and let everything boil together for twenty minutes.
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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Tomato + clovetop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,474 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Dry tomatoes
- Provide the body of the preserve and soften as they absorb the concentrated syrup.
- Whole cloves
- Add a warm, sweet spice aroma that infuses the syrup and tomatoes during boiling.
The step that matters
Boil the syrup down without letting it catch. As sugar syrup thickens and concentrates, it can scorch on the base of the kettle, producing a burnt flavour and dark colour. Reducing gently at first and keeping the syrup moving helps it thicken evenly.
“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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