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 ↓
Plum Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the plums
Wash and pit the plums.
Combine the plums and water in a large pot and boil until the plums are soft.
Extract the juice
Pour the mixture into a jelly bag and let it drip without squeezing.
Make the jelly
Measure the juice and add an equal weight of sugar.
Boil the juice and sugar together for 20 minutes or until it reaches a jelly consistency.
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.
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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 pectin and fruit flavour that help the jelly set and taste of plum.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and, with boiling, helps the juice thicken into a set jelly.
The step that matters
Letting the juice drip without squeezing. Squeezing the jelly bag pushes cloudy particles and pulp through, which makes the finished jelly cloudy. Gentle dripping gives a clear jelly.
“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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