Why it works: Sugar and pineapple are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,841 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
To Can in Cold Syrup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the pineapple into small slices or pieces.
Layer the pineapple and sugar in a stone crock and place it in a cold, dark place overnight.
Jar and seal
The next day, transfer the pineapple to glass jars.
Fill the jars to the top with the juice that has drawn overnight and seal them airtight.
Use sterilized can tops and rubbers, applying them hot for a better seal.
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 + pineappletop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,841 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Draws juice out of the pineapple and forms the cold syrup that preserves the fruit.
- Pineapple
- Provides the fruit that softens and releases juice as it sits in sugar.
The step that matters
Fill the jars to the top with the juice. Leaving headspace or air pockets lets the syrup and fruit oxidize and spoil, so jars must be filled fully and sealed airtight.
“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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