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 ↓
Strawberry Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash and hull the strawberries.
Mash the strawberries in a bowl.
Cook and jar
In a pot, combine the mashed strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice.
Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the mixture thickens.
Pour the jam into sterilized jars and seal.
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
- Fresh strawberries
- Provide the fruit flavor, color, and the bulk of the jam.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jam and helps it set as it cooks down.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens flavor and supports gel formation.
The step that matters
Cooking until the mixture thickens. Cooking drives off water and concentrates the fruit, sugar and pectin. Stopping too early leaves runny jam, while cooking too long can scorch the sugar or dull the fruit flavor. Stirring frequently prevents sticking and burning on the bottom of the pot.
“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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