Why it works: Sugar and arrowroot are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,073 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Strawberry-and-Raspberry Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Make the jam
Put the strawberries and raspberries in a saucepan over medium heat.
Stir with a wooden spoon until the fruit is pulpy.
Mash the fruit, then strain the juice into another saucepan.
Bring the juice to a boil, then add the sugar and arrowroot or cornflour.
Boil for about 10 minutes, stirring continually.
Set and serve
Pour the mixture into a dampened mold and let it set.
Once cold, turn it out and serve with sugar and milk separately.
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 + arrowroottop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,073 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
- Strawberries
- Provide the main fruit flavour and bulk of the jam.
- Raspberries
- Add tart aroma and fruit flavour alongside the strawberries.
- Crushed loaf sugar
- Sweetens the jam and helps it keep a set texture.
- Arrowroot or cornflour
- Thickens the juice so the mixture sets firm when cooled.
The step that matters
Stirring while boiling with the starch. Arrowroot or cornflour can clump and scorch on the base of the pan if not stirred constantly. Continuous stirring keeps the starch dispersed so it thickens evenly.
“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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