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
Select fine plums and prick each one with a needle to prevent bursting.
In a pot, combine ¾ pound of sugar with 1 pint of water to make a thin syrup.
Simmer the plums gently in the syrup for no longer than 5 minutes.
Jar and seal
Place the plums in a jar and pour the hot syrup over them.
Seal the jar immediately.
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
- Provide the fruit that is cooked gently and preserved in the jar.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the fruit and, dissolved in water, forms the syrup that fills the jar.
The step that matters
Simmering the plums. Simmering too long softens the fruit and can cause it to split or turn mushy, so the plums should be cooked gently and only for the short time given. Pricking the skins lets the syrup penetrate and reduces bursting.
“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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