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Preserved Tomatoes

A method of preserving small yellow tomatoes in a sugar and lemon syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,592 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Preserved Tomatoes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Scald the tomatoes just enough to loosen the skins, then peel them.

  2. Prepare a syrup using 1 pound of sugar for each pound of tomatoes.

Cook in syrup

  1. Add the tomatoes and the peel of the lemon to the syrup and let them simmer for a few minutes.

  2. Add the juice of the lemon when the tomatoes appear clear and soft.

Pack and seal

  1. Remove the tomatoes from the syrup one at a time and place them in tumblers or small jars.

  2. Pour the warm syrup over the tomatoes.

  3. Once cold, cover with branded paper and paste paper over them.

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 + lemontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,592 recipes

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

  2. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

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

Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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 softened and preserved in the sugar syrup.
Granulated sugar
Forms the syrup that preserves the tomatoes and gives them sweetness.
Lemon
Adds acidity and aroma from its peel and juice to balance the sweet syrup.

The step that matters

Simmering until clear and soft. Tomatoes need enough time in the hot syrup for sugar to penetrate and soften the flesh. Adding lemon juice only once they look clear and soft lets the fruit firm up properly rather than breaking down.

Swap the tomato

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

  1. Arrowrootfits better
  2. Sweet potatofits better
  3. Kalefits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, lemon. 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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