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
Wash the plums and place them whole into a syrup made from 1 pint of water and 1 pound of sugar for every 2 pounds of fruit.
Boil the plums in the syrup for 8 minutes.
Can the plums and seal immediately.
Prick the plums with a fork before placing them in the syrup to reduce bursting.
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, which holds its shape and flavor during simmering and canning.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the fruit and, dissolved in the water, forms the syrup that helps preserve texture.
The step that matters
Prick the plums before placing them in the syrup. Plum skins are tight and can split when heated quickly. Pricking lets the skin release pressure and lets syrup penetrate, reducing bursting and keeping the fruit intact.
“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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