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Dessert

Jim Jam

A jam made from crab apples, raisins, oranges, sugar, vinegar, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Jim Jam

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Put the spices in a bag.

Make the jam

  1. Add 1 cup of water and the vinegar; boil for a few minutes.

  2. Add the sugar and boil for twenty minutes.

  3. Add the crab apples, oranges, and raisins; cook for 1½ hours.

  4. Remove the spice bag and seal the jam.

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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  3. Orange + cinnamontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,437 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,598 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  5. Orange + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,987 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Crab apples
Provide pectin and tart flavor that help the jam thicken and set.
Sugar
Sweetens the jam and helps it thicken and keep.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens flavor and supports pectin setting.
Raisins
Add concentrated sweetness and chewy body to the jam.
Oranges
Add acidity and bitter citrus aroma, with pulp contributing body.

The step that matters

Add the crab apples, oranges, and raisins; cook for 1½ hours.. Long simmering lets water evaporate and sugar concentrate, so the jam thickens to a spreadable set rather than staying runny.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (crab, apple, vinegar, raisin, sugar, cinnamon, clove):

  1. Quincefits better
  2. Pearfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against crab, apple, vinegar, raisin, sugar, cinnamon, clove. 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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