Why it works: Plum and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,313 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Blackberry and Plum Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Open the plums and crack the stones.
In a large saucepan, combine the plums and blackberries.
Cook the jam
Boil the mixture for one hour, skimming well.
Add 6 lbs of sugar for every 7 lbs of fruit.
Boil for another 30 to 45 minutes.
Jar the jam
Fill jars with the jam and tie down when cold.
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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Plum + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,313 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Plums
- Add natural acidity and pectin, which help the jam set.
- Blackberries
- Provide most of the flavour and deep colour of the jam.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jam, helps it set, and helps preserve it.
The step that matters
Boiling after adding the sugar. Sugar, pectin and fruit acid only form a gel when the mixture reaches a full, steady boil for long enough. Undercooking leaves a runny jam that may spoil, while overcooking can make it stiff and dull in flavour.
“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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