Why it works: Tomato and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 33% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,667 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Tomato Honey
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the tomatoes
Peel the tomatoes.
Cook the tomatoes quickly.
Strain the cooked tomatoes to remove seeds.
Make the honey
Combine the strained tomatoes with the granulated sugar in a porcelain kettle.
Boil the mixture until it thickens.
Place the thickened mixture in jars without sealing.
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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Tomato + sugartop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,667 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
- Yellow tomatoes
- Provide the main body, moisture and mild tomato flavor of the spread.
- Granulated sugar
- Adds sweetness and, as it dissolves and cooks down, thickens the mixture into a honey-like texture.
The step that matters
Boil the mixture until it thickens. Sugar and tomato juice must cook down far enough to concentrate and set into a thick syrup. Stopping too early leaves a runny result, while overcooking can scorch the sugar and darken the flavor.
“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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