Why it works: Sugar and rum are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,908 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Rum Syrup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Combine the sugar and water in a saucepan and stir until dissolved, but do not let it boil.
Dip a pastry brush in boiling water and wash the sides of the saucepan to remove any sugar grains.
Quickly bring the mixture to a boil without stirring, skim off any foam, and boil for about 4 minutes until slightly thickened.
Finish and serve
Pour into a basin, and when slightly cool, carefully stir in the rum until well mixed.
Use while hot.
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 + rumtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,908 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Castor sugar
- Dissolves to form the syrup and provides sweetness and body once thickened.
- Rum
- Adds aroma and flavour to the finished syrup.
The step that matters
Wash the saucepan sides before boiling. Stray sugar grains on the pan sides can trigger recrystallisation as the syrup boils, making it grainy. Washing them down with hot water keeps the syrup smooth.
“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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