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To Dry Cherries and Plums

A method for drying cherries and plums by oven baking and sun exposure, then storing in stone jars.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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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 ↓

To Dry Cherries and Plums

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare and dry

  1. Remove the pits from the cherries and plums.

  2. Sprinkle sugar over the fruit.

  3. Place the fruit in a 300°F (150°C) oven for at least half a day.

Finish and store

  1. After baking, place the fruit in the sun to finish drying.

  2. Store the dried fruit in stone jars, layering fruit and sugar.

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. Plum + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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

Cherries
Provide the main fruit flavor and sweetness, and the water that is driven off during drying.
Plums
Provide the main fruit flavor and sweetness, and the water that is driven off during drying.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps draw moisture out of the fruit, which supports keeping the dried fruit stored.

The step that matters

Slow drying in the oven. Low, long heat removes water gradually so the fruit dries without scorching on the outside. Fruit that stays too moist can spoil in storage, so it should be fully dried before it is layered with sugar and stored.

“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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