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The Same Preserved in Syrup

A method for preserving fruit in a sugar syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Walnut and brandy work together. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 239 recipes. Both carry linalool, which smells floral, citrus. The science ↓

The Same Preserved in Syrup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fruit

  1. Place the fruit in a preserving pan and cover with cold water.

  2. Add a lump of alum.

  3. Bring to a simmer, then quickly transfer the fruit to a bowl of cold water.

  4. Drain the fruit.

  5. Pack it tightly in the preserving pan with enough clarified sugar to cover it.

  6. Simmer for 2-3 minutes.

  7. Pour the mixture into a china bowl.

  8. Let it sit overnight.

Make the syrup

  1. Pour off the syrup.

  2. Add more sugar to match the weight of the fruit.

  3. Boil for 15-20 minutes.

  4. Add the fruit back into the syrup.

  5. Boil for 3 minutes.

  6. Repeat this process two more times.

Jar and seal

  1. Remove the fruit to jars.

  2. Boil the syrup until it reaches the 'blow' stage.

  3. Pour the syrup over the fruit.

  4. Seal with paper dipped in brandy or cork and wax if using bottles.

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.

  1. Walnut + brandytop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together239 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  2. Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11,939 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Walnut + sugartop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,147 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Sugar and brandy barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 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

Fruit
Provides the main body and flavour of the preserve, held firm by the alum-treated soak.
Alum
Firms the fruit's tissue so it holds its shape during repeated simmering.
Sugar
Preserves the fruit and forms the thick syrup that gives sweetness and body.

The step that matters

Boiling the syrup to the 'blow' stage. Sugar must reach a high enough concentration to stop spoilage and keep the fruit preserved. Undercooked syrup can ferment, while overcooking makes it too thick or sugary.

Swap the walnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, brandy):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Chestnutfits better
  3. Walnutthe original
  4. Hazelnutfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, brandy. 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.

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