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 ↓
Damson Cheese
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Boil the damsons in enough water to cover them.
Strain the pulp through a very coarse sieve.
Make the cheese
Add 4 ounces of sugar for each pound of fruit.
Boil until it begins to candy on the sides.
Pour into tin molds.
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
- Damsons
- Provide the fruit pulp that forms the body and flavour of the cheese.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the fruit and helps the pulp thicken into a firm, sliceable set.
The step that matters
Boil until it begins to candy on the sides. Sugar and fruit pulp must be cooked until concentrated enough to set when cooled. Stopping too early leaves a soft mass that will not hold its shape in the mold.
“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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