Why it works: Spinach and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 32% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,033 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Spinach Green, for Colouring Sweet Dishes, Confectionery, or Soups
Ingredients
Directions
Make the spinach green
Pound the spinach in a mortar until it becomes a pulp.
Press the pulp through a hair sieve to extract the juice.
Pour the juice into a clean jar and place it in a pan of simmering water.
Allow it to simmer for 3-4 minutes until the juice sets.
Gently scoop it out with a spoon and drain on a fine sieve.
Use or store
For immediate use, mix the juice with powdered sugar.
To store, pound the juice with enough sugar to make it dry, boil until it reaches candy height, pour into cakes, and store in a tin box.
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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Spinach + sugartop 32% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,033 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
- Young fresh spinach
- Provides the green colour and the juice that sets into the green.
The step that matters
Simmering until the juice sets. The juice must be heated gently and only long enough to set. Too much heat or time over-cooks the juice, which can turn it dull and make it firm and grainy rather than a soft, clear green.
“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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