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Dessert

Tomato Figs Pbesebyed

A preserved tomato fig dish made by boiling, layering with sugar, drying, and storing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Why it works: Fig and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,241 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Tomato Figs Pbesebyed

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the tomatoes

  1. Dip the tomatoes in boiling water and peel them carefully.

  2. In an earthen jar, layer the tomatoes with the crushed sugar and cover.

  3. Let them sit in a cool, dry place for 2-3 days.

Make the syrup

  1. Drain the juice into a copper basin and boil it, skimming off the scum until clear.

  2. Let the syrup cool, then pour it over the tomatoes.

  3. Repeat this process three times within a week.

Dry and store

  1. On a sunny day, remove the tomatoes and place them on dishes to dry for 6-7 days, turning occasionally.

  2. Once dried, layer the tomatoes in boxes lined with white paper, sprinkling powdered sugar between layers.

  3. Cover the boxes and store them in a dry place.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Fig + sugartop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,241 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Fig or bed pear tomatoes
Provide the main body and flesh that is softened, sweetened and concentrated by the sugar.
Crushed cube sugar
Draws moisture out of the tomatoes and sweetens them, helping preserve them.

The step that matters

Skimming the boiled syrup until clear. Scum rising during boiling carries impurities that would cloud the syrup and can spoil the preserve, so it must be removed thoroughly while the syrup simmers.

“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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