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Tomato Figs

Tomato Figs are dried tomatoes sweetened with brown sugar and powdered sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Pear and tomato work together. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Tomato Figs

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Scald and skin the tomatoes.

  2. In a pot, combine the tomatoes and brown sugar.

  3. Cook without water until the sugar penetrates and the tomatoes appear clear.

Dry and pack

  1. Remove the tomatoes and spread them on dishes to dry in the sun.

  2. Sprinkle a little syrup on the tomatoes while drying.

  3. Pack the dried tomatoes in jars or boxes, layering with powdered sugar in between.

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. Pear + tomatotop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Pear + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,079 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  3. Tomato + sugartop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,667 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

Pear-shaped tomatoes
Provide the main body and flesh that becomes the chewy, fig-like dried texture.
Brown sugar
Sweetens and penetrates the tomatoes, drawing out moisture and helping preserve them as they dry.
Powdered sugar
Coats the dried tomatoes between layers, adding sweetness and a light sugary surface.

The step that matters

Cook without water until the sugar penetrates and the tomatoes appear clear. Without added water, the sugar must draw moisture out of the tomatoes and slowly replace it. If heated too hard or too briefly, the fruit can scorch or stay opaque and watery, so the tomatoes will not dry into a firm, preserved texture.

Swap the tomato

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

  1. Beetrootfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Sweet potatofits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pear, sugar. 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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