Why it works: Sugar and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Stewed Prunes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash the prunes carefully and soak them in cold water for 2 hours; if they are soft and fresh, skip soaking.
Stew
Place the prunes in a porcelain kettle and cover with boiling water.
Boil until tender, then add 2 tablespoons of sugar for every cup of prunes.
Boil for an additional 10 minutes.
Add lemon juice if desired.
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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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Prunes
- Form the main body of the dish, softening as they simmer to a tender texture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps balance the dark, tart flavor of the prunes.
The step that matters
Boil until tender before adding sugar. Sugar added early can toughen the skins of dried fruit and slow softening, so the prunes should be tender before sweetening.
“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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