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Dessert

Rhubarb Jam

A jam made from rhubarb, figs, orange peel, lemon, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Rhubarb Jam

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the rhubarb and figs into small pieces.

  2. Add the orange peel, grated lemon, and juice to the fruit mixture.

Cook and jar

  1. In a porcelain-lined kettle, combine the fruit and sugar.

  2. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently until the mixture thickens.

  3. Pour the hot jam into sterilized jelly glasses and seal.

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. Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Rhubarb + orangetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together299 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

  3. Fig + orangetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together407 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Rhubarb + figtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together48 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

  5. Rhubarb + lemontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together546 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Rhubarb
Provides the tart flavor and most of the bulk of the jam.
Figs
Add soft body and natural sweetness to the fruit base.
Sugar
Sweetens the jam, helps it thicken, and helps preserve it.
Lemon
Adds acidity that brightens flavor and supports the jam setting.
Orange peel
Adds a fragrant citrus aroma and slightly bitter notes.

The step that matters

Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently until the mixture thickens. Sugar-rich fruit mixtures can scorch on the bottom of the pan if left unattended. Frequent stirring spreads the heat and keeps the jam from burning while water evaporates and the sugar and fruit pectin concentrate into a thick set.

Swap the fig

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

  1. Limefits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Blueberryfits about as well
  4. Figthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rhubarb, orange, lemon, sugar. 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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