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 Plums
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Pick over the plums and ensure they are clean, leaving the stems on.
Make a syrup by combining 1 pound of sugar and ½ cup of water in a pot.
Cook
Bring the syrup to a boil, then add the plums.
Let the plums simmer for about 45 minutes.
Jar
Transfer the plums to glass or china jars and seal tightly.
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
- Damson plums
- Provide the fruit, along with natural pectin and acid that help the preserves set.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the fruit, thickens the syrup, and helps preserve the plums.
The step that matters
Simmer the plums gently after the syrup boils. Once the plums go in, a steady simmer lets them soften and release pectin without breaking apart. A hard boil can split the skins and turn the fruit mushy, while the sugar syrup needs to be fully dissolved first so it does not scorch on the bottom of the pot.
“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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