Why it works: Sugar and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Pineapple Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Weigh the pineapples, then skin and remove eyes, cutting them into thin slices.
Boil the slices in just enough water to cover them, adding a little sugar.
Pass the cooked fruit through a sieve.
Make the syrup
For every pound of fruit, use half a pound of sugar.
Boil the pineapple water with the sugar to create a clear thick syrup.
Finish the jam
Add the fruit pulp to the syrup and stir over heat until done.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,842 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Pineapple + syruptop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together568 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Pineapple + sugartop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,841 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pineapples
- Provides the fruit pulp that gives the jam its body and flavour.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jam and, as it concentrates in the syrup, helps thicken it.
The step that matters
Stir over heat until done. As water evaporates, the sugar concentration rises and thickens the pulp into jam. Stirring prevents scorching on the base. Stopping too early leaves it runny, while cooking too long makes it stiff and sticky.
Swap the pineapple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, syrup):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Pearfits about as well
- Pineapplethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, syrup. 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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