Why it works: Pine and sugar work together. They rank in the top 30% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 309 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Marmalade
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Pare the rinds off the pines and remove any dark specks from the flesh.
Grate the pines on a fine grater or slice them thin and cut into dice.
Pound the pines in a stone or marble mortar until a portion is grated and the remainder is reduced to pulp.
Cook the marmalade
Weigh the mixture, then heat and boil it gently for 10 minutes.
Gradually stir in 14 ounces of sugar for every pound of fruit and boil until it thickens and becomes transparent, about 15 minutes for small quantities.
Avoid placing the preserving pan flat on the fire to prevent caramelization.
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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Pine + sugartop 30% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together309 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- English pines
- Provide the main bulk, flavour and body of the marmalade.
- West indian pines
- Add more fruit bulk and flavour to the marmalade.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the marmalade and helps it thicken and set as it boils.
The step that matters
Keep the pan off direct fire. Sugar-rich fruit mixtures scorch and caramelize quickly on direct heat, which can burn the bottom and spoil the flavour. Gentle heat lets the mixture thicken evenly.
“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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