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 ↓
Canned Plums
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Select fine plums and prick each with a needle to prevent bursting.
In a pot, combine ¾ pound of sugar with 1 pint of water to make a thin syrup.
Cook and can
Simmer the plums gently in the syrup for no longer than 5 minutes.
Transfer the plums to a jar and pour the hot syrup over them. Seal the jar.
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.
-
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, which softens and holds its shape in the gentle syrup simmer.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the fruit and, dissolved in water, forms the syrup that preserves it.
The step that matters
Simmer the plums gently for no longer than 5 minutes. Long or vigorous simmering breaks down the fruit skins and flesh, so the plums turn mushy and split. A short, gentle simmer keeps them whole while the syrup warms them through.
“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.
You might also like
Mixed Fruit Sherbet6 recipes
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.