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Melon and Pineapple Jam

A jam made from diced sugar melon and pineapple boiled with sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Melon and pineapple match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 114 recipes. Both carry methyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Melon and Pineapple Jam

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a large pot, combine the diced sugar melon and pineapple with half of the sugar.

  2. Boil the mixture for 3 hours, stirring occasionally.

  3. Add the remaining sugar and continue to boil for an additional hour.

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. Melon + pineappletop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together114 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  2. Sugar + pineappletop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,841 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Sugar + melontop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together796 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

Sugar melon
Provides the bulk of the jam and its mild, sweet fruit flavor.
Pineapple
Adds tangy acidity and tropical flavor that brightens the sweet fruit.
Sugar
Sweetens the jam, helps it thicken, and helps it keep.

The step that matters

Stirring during the long boil. Over 3 hours, fruit and sugar concentrate and can scorch on the bottom of the pot. Stirring occasionally spreads the heat and prevents sticking and burnt flavor.

Swap the melon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, pineapple):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Bananafits about as well
  3. Figfits about as well
  4. Melonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, pineapple. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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