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 ↓
Plum Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Make the juice
Boil the plums in water until the liquid reduces to 3 pints.
Strain the mixture through a jelly bag.
Make the jelly
For each pint of juice, add 1 pound of sugar.
Boil the syrup until it jellies.
Pour into small jars and cover as usual.
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
- Plums
- Provide the fruit flavor, natural pectin and acidity that help the jelly set.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jelly and, with boiling, helps it thicken and set.
The step that matters
Boil the syrup until it jellies. Undercooking leaves the jelly runny, while overcooking can make it stiff or sugary. The set depends on sugar concentration and pectin reaching the right point, so the cook should watch for the jelly to sheet off a spoon.
“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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