Why it works: Vinegar and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,806 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Cherry Preserves
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cherries
Pit the cherries and weigh them.
Place the cherries in a stone jar and cover with vinegar.
Let stand for 24 hours.
Drain off the vinegar.
Make the preserves
Stir in 1 pound of sugar for each pound of cherries.
Let the mixture stand for 2 to 3 days.
Stir each morning and evening until the sugar is completely dissolved.
Can the preserves.
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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Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cherries
- Provide the fruit, which supplies the main flavor and bulk of the preserves.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the preserves and, in high concentration, helps preserve the fruit.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and helps firm the cherries during the initial soak.
The step that matters
Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. Sugar must fully dissolve over the standing days so the syrup reaches a high enough concentration to preserve the fruit. Undissolved sugar can leave crystals and uneven sweetness, and it may let the preserves spoil.
“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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