Why it works: Sugar and pear are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,079 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Canned Pears
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Prepare a syrup by combining 1 pint of water and 6 tablespoons of sugar in a pot and heating it until boiling.
Peel the pears and drop each one into a pan of clear water to prevent browning.
Have canning jars ready by rolling them in hot water.
Cook the pears
Once the syrup is boiling, carefully add the pears and boil until they are clear and easily pierced with a fork.
Boil tougher pears in water until tender.
Place the tender pears in the hot syrup and boil for 10 minutes before canning.
Can
Pack the pears into the jars.
Fill the jars to overflowing with the hot syrup, keeping the syrup on the heat.
Seal the jars immediately after filling.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
-
Sugar + peartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,079 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
- Pears
- Provide the fruit that softens during cooking and becomes the main body of the preserve.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the syrup and helps preserve the fruit's flavor and texture in the jar.
The step that matters
Seal the jars immediately after filling. Hot syrup and fruit must be sealed while still hot so the air inside cools into a vacuum, which helps the jar seal and keeps spoilage organisms out.
“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.
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.