Why it works: Plum and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,313 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Canned Plums
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the plums
Wash the plums thoroughly.
Place the plums in a preserving kettle and cover with cold water.
Add baking soda to the plums.
Heat and cool the plums
Heat the mixture slowly to boiling point.
When the plums begin to burst, remove from heat.
Drain the plums.
When cool, pit the plums or leave them whole for canning.
Make the syrup and cook
Make a syrup by combining 1 cup of water with 3 cups of sugar.
Drop the plums into the syrup.
Heat the plums in the syrup slowly.
Skim the syrup as needed.
Add more sugar as the fruit heats.
Observe that the syrup will increase but become thinner.
Use about 3 cups of sugar for every 4 cups of fruit.
Simmer for 30 to 45 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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Plum + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,313 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Plums
- Form the fruit itself, supplying the main texture, flavour and juice for the syrup.
- Baking soda
- Makes the cooking water alkaline, which helps soften the plum skins.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the fruit and, as it dissolves, thickens the syrup and helps preserve the plums.
The step that matters
When the plums begin to burst, remove from heat.. Fruit held at heat past the point of bursting keeps softening and breaking down, so it turns mushy and loses its shape in the jar.
“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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