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Dessert

Rhubarb and Ginger Jam

A jam made from rhubarb, sugar, and ginger, optionally flavored with almond essence.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Rhubarb and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 117 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Rhubarb and Ginger Jam

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine rhubarb, preserving sugar, and crushed ginger in a pot.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil.

  3. Boil for 20 minutes if the rhubarb is young, or up to 1 hour if the rhubarb is old.

  4. Stir in a little almond essence before transferring to jars.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Rhubarb + almondtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together117 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Rhubarb + gingertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together241 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Ginger + almondtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Sugar + gingertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together14,054 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  5. Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

Sugar and ginger barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 14,054 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Rhubarb
Provides the tart flavour and the fruit that breaks down into the jam's body.
Preserving sugar
Sweetens the jam and, with the fruit's pectin, helps it set as it cooks.
Root ginger
Adds a warm, spicy aroma that balances the rhubarb's sharpness.

The step that matters

Boil for the right time. Young rhubarb softens quickly, while old rhubarb is fibrous and needs longer. Boiling too briefly leaves the jam loose and runny, and boiling too long can dull the fresh flavour and overcook the sugar.

“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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