Why it works: Pear and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,079 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
To Preserve Pears
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Remove the stones from the pears and place the fruit in a dish with pounded sugar sprinkled over it.
Let the pears sit overnight.
Cook
The next day, place the pears in a preserving pan and simmer gently by the fire for about 30 minutes.
Then, boil the mixture quickly, removing the scum as it rises, and stir constantly to prevent sticking.
Crack the stones and add the kernels to the preserve when it begins to boil.
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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Pear + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,079 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
- Pears
- Provide the main fruit body, pectin and flavour that set and carry the preserve.
- Sugar
- Draws moisture out of the fruit and preserves it while adding sweetness and body.
The step that matters
Boil quickly while stirring constantly. Sugar-rich mixtures scorch and stick easily on the base of the pan, and a rapid boil is needed to reach a set. Constant stirring prevents burning and keeps the preserve from catching.
“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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