Why it works: Corn and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,168 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
To Can Corn
Ingredients
Directions
Mix and jar
Mix the salt, sugar, water, and corn thoroughly.
Place the tops on the jars loosely and do not screw them tight.
Steam
Steam the jars for a total of four hours.
After three hours, screw the tops on firmly.
Steam for one more hour, adding more hot water if necessary.
Prepare the corn
Can the corn soon after it is harvested, ideally within an hour.
Select firm, full grains before they begin to harden.
Husk the corn.
Brush off the silks with a stiff brush.
Cut the grains with a sharp knife.
Scrape lightly.
Fill the jars.
Finish
Loosen the tops before each cooking session.
After each steaming, screw the tops tight again.
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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Corn + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,168 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Corn
- Forms the bulk of the jar and is the food being preserved.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and rounds out the flavor of the corn.
The step that matters
Screwing the tops on at the right time. Loose lids let steam and trapped air escape during heating, while firmly closed lids after the first hours keep the jar sealed so contents stay protected as they cool.
“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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