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Dessert

Damson Plum and Crabapple Jelly

A jelly made from equal parts damson plums and crabapples, cooked with water and heated sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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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 ↓

Damson Plum and Crabapple Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fruit

  1. Wash the damson plums and crabapples.

  2. Cut the crabapples in half and place them in a preserving kettle with just enough water to prevent burning.

  3. Cook until almost soft, stirring frequently.

  4. Add the plums and cook until very soft.

Extract and boil the juice

  1. Drain the mixture through a coarse strainer, then let the juice drip through a jelly bag.

  2. Measure the juice and boil for 10 minutes.

  3. Add an equal quantity of heated sugar and boil for 5 minutes.

  4. Skim the surface.

Set and store

  1. Pour into glasses.

  2. Place in a sunny window for 24 hours and cover.

  3. Store in a cool, 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. Plum + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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

Ripe crabapples
Provide natural pectin and acidity that help the jelly set.
Damson plums
Add tart flavour and additional pectin to support setting.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the jelly set and keep.

The step that matters

Boiling the juice with sugar. Sugar, acid and pectin must be concentrated by boiling to reach the gel point. Boiling too briefly leaves a runny jelly, while overboiling can darken the colour and dull the flavour.

“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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