Why it works: Raisin and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,481 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Barberry and Raisin Preserve
Ingredients
Directions
Combine barberries and raisins in a pot.
Add enough sugar to cover the fruit generously.
Cook over medium heat until just boiling, being careful not to overcook.
Seal the mixture in glass jars or stone jars.
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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Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 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
- Barberries
- Provide the tart, acidic flavour that gives the preserve its character.
- Raisins
- Add natural sweetness and soft, chewy body to the preserve.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and binds water in the fruit, helping the preserve thicken and keep.
The step that matters
Cook only until just boiling. Prolonged boiling evaporates water and concentrates the sugar, breaking down the fruit so it turns dark, sticky and overly thick, and loses fresh flavour.
“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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