Why it works: Rhubarb and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,852 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Bhubakb Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Macerate
Combine rhubarb and sugar in a bowl and let sit overnight.
Make the jam
Pour off the syrup and boil it until it thickens.
Add the rhubarb to the thickened syrup and boil gently for 15 minutes.
Jar and store
Pour into tumblers and seal like currant jelly.
Store in a cool place; it will keep for a year.
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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Rhubarb + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,852 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
- Rhubarb
- Provides the main body and tart flavour of the jam.
- Sugar
- Draws moisture out of the rhubarb to make syrup and sweetens the jam.
The step that matters
Boiling the syrup until it thickens. Sugar syrup must reach a high enough concentration to set and preserve the jam. Stopping too early leaves a runny jam that may spoil sooner.
“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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