Name: Pineapple Conserve
Ingredients: 1 pineapple (or 2 canned pineapples), finely chopped; 4 cups rhubarb, finely chopped; 8 cups sugar (or 7 cups if using canned apples); 1 lemon, grated rind; 2 oranges, ground; ½ pound blanched almonds, finely chopped

Why it works: Rhubarb and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 117 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Pineapple Conserve

Ingredients

1 pineapple (or 2 canned pineapples), finely chopped
4 cups rhubarb, finely chopped
8 cups sugar (or 7 cups if using canned apples)
1 lemon, grated rind
2 oranges, ground
½ pound blanched almonds, finely chopped

Directions

Combine the pineapple, rhubarb, sugar, lemon rind, ground oranges, and chopped almonds in a large pot.
Cook over medium heat for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Rhubarb + almondtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together117 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Lemon + orangetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,634 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Rhubarb + orangetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together299 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
Pineapple + orangetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,664 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Orange + almondtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,125 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Pineapple: Provides the main fruit body and its sweet, tangy flavor to the preserve.
Rhubarb: Adds tartness and acidity that balances the large amount of sugar.
Sugar: Sweetens the preserve and thickens it as it cooks down into a spreadable set.
Oranges: Contribute juice, pectin-rich pulp and bitter aromatic oils to the preserve.
Blanched almonds: Add body, a nutty flavor and a bit of texture to the preserve.

The step that matters

Cooking over medium heat for 1 hour. Sugar concentrates as water evaporates, and the fruit must cook down enough for the preserve to thicken. Stirring often keeps the sugar and fruit from scorching on the bottom of the pot.

Swap the pineapple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rhubarb, sugar, lemon, orange, almond):

Vanillafits better
Limefits better
Figfits better
Pineapplethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rhubarb, sugar, lemon, orange, almond. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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.

Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes

Lemon Cake228 recipes

Rhubarb Pie152 recipes

Lemon Ice147 recipes

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Pineapple Conserve