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 ↓
Canned Plums
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Combine sugar and water in a preserving kettle over medium heat.
Prick each plum with a needle to prevent bursting.
Cook the plums
Once the sugar is dissolved, add the plums to the kettle.
Heat slowly until boiling, then cook for 5 minutes.
Fill the jars
Fill jars with plums to the rim and pour the hot liquid over them until overflowing.
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
- Greengage plums
- Supply the fruit flesh and juices that make up the packing liquid and the final texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the fruit and helps the plums keep their flavor and shape in the syrup.
The step that matters
Prick each plum before cooking. Plum skins can split when heated quickly, and the fruit can burst. Pricking each plum lets steam escape and lets the syrup penetrate, so the fruit stays whole and absorbs sweetness more evenly.
“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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