Why it works: Sugar and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,939 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Strawberry Preserves
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Hull the strawberries and weigh them.
For each pound of strawberries, use an equal pound of sugar.
Divide the sugar into two equal portions.
Make the syrup
Layer strawberries in a preserving kettle and cover with half the sugar.
Heat over moderate fire until the sugar melts.
Gradually add the remaining sugar and boil hard for 5 minutes, skimming off any scum.
Carefully remove the strawberries with a spoon and spread them on flat dishes to cool.
Boil the syrup again, skimming if necessary.
Strain the syrup into a mug or pitcher.
Jar and seal
Place the strawberries in glass jars and pour an equal portion of syrup over them.
Seal the jars with a round piece of white paper dipped in brandy.
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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Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,939 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar and brandy barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 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
- Strawberries
- Provide the fruit, which softens and holds its shape in the sugar syrup as it cooks.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the fruit and, at high concentration, helps preserve it and set the syrup.
The step that matters
Boil hard after adding the remaining sugar. Sugar must dissolve fully and the mixture must reach a hard boil so the syrup becomes concentrated enough to preserve the fruit. Skimming removes scum that would otherwise spoil the preserves.
“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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