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Tomato-figs

A preserved tomato recipe using sugar, scalded and layered in jars, boiled and dried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 33% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,667 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Tomato-figs

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the tomatoes

  1. Scald the tomatoes.

  2. Remove the skins without breaking the fruit.

  3. Weigh the tomatoes.

  4. Use half as much sugar as the weight of the fruit.

  5. Pack the tomatoes and sugar in layers in earthen jars.

  6. Let them stand for 24 hours.

Make the syrup

  1. Drain the juice from the fruit.

  2. Add 1 pound of sugar for each pint of juice.

  3. Combine the juice and sugar in a preserving kettle over heat.

  4. Boil.

  5. Once boiling, add the tomatoes.

  6. Continue boiling until they look clear.

  7. Remove any scum.

  8. Pour the tomatoes into earthen jars.

  9. Let them stand for 2 days.

  10. Drain off the syrup.

  11. Boil it again.

  12. Pour it over the fruit.

  13. Let it stand for another 2 days.

Dry and store

  1. After 2 days, take the tomatoes from the syrup.

  2. Lay them on sieves or dishes to dry for a week.

  3. Put the tomatoes in the sun daily and turn them over twice a day.

  4. If damp, dry them in a warm room.

  5. Once dry, pack them in wooden boxes with dry sugar between the layers.

  6. Store in a dry place.

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. Tomato + sugartop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,667 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

Small yellow tomatoes
Provide the fruit that is preserved, softened and concentrated by the sugar syrup.
Sugar
Draws out moisture and preserves the fruit, adding sweetness and body to the syrup.

The step that matters

Continue boiling until the tomatoes look clear. Boiling in sugar syrup lets the sugar replace water in the fruit, so it becomes translucent and keeps. Stopping too early leaves the fruit cloudy and less preserved.

“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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