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 ↓
Plum Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the plums
Wash the plums and place them in a preserving kettle.
Add enough boiling water to cover the plums.
Boil the plums until they begin to open and release juice.
Pour off the liquid and strain it.
Make the jelly
For each pint of juice, add one pound of white sugar.
Return the mixture to the kettle and boil for 20 to 30 minutes until it reaches the desired consistency.
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.
-
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 flesh and natural pectin and acid that help the jelly set.
- White sugar
- Sweetens the juice and, when boiled down, helps the jelly thicken and set.
The step that matters
Boiling the juice with sugar until the desired consistency. Sugar and pectin only set into a gel once enough water has evaporated at a high enough concentration. Stopping too early leaves a runny jelly, while boiling too long can make it stiff and dull in 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.
More plum jelly recipes
You might also like
Mixed Fruit Sherbet6 recipes
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 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.