Why it works: Lime and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 29% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,332 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Lime Preserves
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the limes
Weigh the limes and set aside double their weight in sugar.
Boil the limes until a pin or straw easily pierces the rind, changing the water once or twice.
When cold, slice the limes, removing the seeds, and place the slices in a bowl.
Make the syrup
Boil the sugar with 1 pint of water for every 5 cups of sugar until it forms a clear syrup.
Pour the boiling syrup over the lime slices and let it stand for 48 hours.
Cook and jar
Boil the mixture together for 10-15 minutes, then pour into jars.
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.
-
Lime + sugartop 29% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,332 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
- Limes
- Provide the fruit, juice and rind, which carries pectin that helps the preserve set.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the fruit and draws water out of it, helping the preserve thicken and keep.
The step that matters
Boil the mixture together for 10-15 minutes. This final boil concentrates the sugar and fruit so the preserve can set. Boiling too briefly leaves it runny, while boiling too long can darken the color and dull the flavor.
“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.
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.