Why it works: Plum and pear match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 245 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Fruit for Jellies, Jams, and Preserves
Ingredients
Directions
Gather fruit in the morning on a sunny day.
Ensure fruit is fresh, sound, and clean.
Remove all bruised or decayed parts before use.
Prepare preserving kettles and jars for storage.
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 + peartop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Pear + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,079 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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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
Swap the plum
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pear, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Applefits about as well
- Plumthe original
- Apricotfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against pear, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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