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 ↓
Green Gage Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Wash the plums and stew them with enough water to prevent scorching.
Mash the plums and strain the pulp through a colander.
Add 1 pound of sugar to 2 cups of pulp and stir until dissolved.
Boil the mixture until it reaches a smooth 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
- Green gage plums
- Provide the fruit flavour and the pulp that forms the body of the jam.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the jam set and keep once it is cooked down.
The step that matters
Boiling to a smooth consistency. Sugar and fruit must be fully dissolved and stirred before boiling, since the jam thickens as water evaporates and concentrates the sugar. Stirring keeps the base from scorching, and stopping too early leaves it runny.
“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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