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To Preserve Magnum Bonum Plums

Preserves large yellow plums in syrup and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Syrup and sugar match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

To Preserve Magnum Bonum Plums

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the plums

  1. Place plums in a pan of spring water over low heat.

  2. Gently press down with a spoon until the skins loosen.

  3. Remove the skins with a knife.

Cook the plums

  1. Put plums in fine syrup.

  2. Bring to a gentle boil.

  3. Stir occasionally to prevent browning.

  4. Once cool, boil again for 5-6 minutes, then remove from heat.

  5. Let cool, stirring often in the syrup.

  6. Lay plums separately on a flat dish.

Make the syrup

  1. Strain syrup through a cloth.

  2. Add an equal weight of sugar.

  3. Boil the syrup and skim it well.

  4. Add plums to the syrup.

  5. Boil until clear.

Jar and seal

  1. Transfer to jars.

  2. Ensure plums are covered with syrup.

  3. Cover with brandy paper.

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. Syrup + sugartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Plum + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,313 recipes

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

  3. Plum + syruptop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together143 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Plums
Provide the fruit, whose skins are removed and whose flesh softens and clears in the syrup.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and, at high concentration in the syrup, helps preserve the fruit.

The step that matters

Stir occasionally to prevent browning. Sugar and fruit sugars darken when held hot for long periods. Stirring spreads heat evenly and keeps the plums from scorching on the base of the pan, which would spoil the clear colour and flavour.

Swap the plum

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (syrup, sugar):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Pearfits better
  4. Plumthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against syrup, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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