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 Cheese
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the plums
Gather the plums when fully ripe and place them in a jar.
Add ¼ pound of sugar to the plums.
Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until soft.
Make the cheese
Rub the mixture through a fine sieve to obtain the pulp.
For every pound of pulp, add ½ pound of granulated sugar and boil over low heat in a double boiler, stirring constantly.
Pour into molds, cover with parchment paper, and store in a dry place.
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 fruit pulp that forms the body and flavor of the cheese.
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the fruit and, with long cooking, helps the pulp thicken and set firm.
The step that matters
Boiling the pulp with sugar over low heat. Stirring constantly and using gentle heat in a double boiler keeps the sugar-rich pulp from scorching on the bottom. Scorched sugar turns bitter and dark, and the pulp must reduce enough to set once cooled.
“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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