Why it works: Plum and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,313 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
English Guava
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Strip the stalks from the bullaces and cut part of them.
Place the bullaces and plums in stone jars.
Boil the jars in a water bath as directed.
Make the jelly
Drain the juice and strain it through a jelly bag.
Weigh the juice and boil it quickly for 15 to 20 minutes.
Stir in 3/4 pound of sugar for each pound of juice until dissolved.
Remove the scum and boil again for 8 to 12 minutes until it jellies.
Pour the jelly into shallow pans or small molds and let it set.
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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Plum + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,313 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
- Bullaces
- Provide the natural pectin and tart flavour that give the jelly its body and taste.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jelly and helps it set by binding water and firming the gel as it boils.
- Imperatrice plums
- Add extra fruit flavour and pectin to support the set.
The step that matters
Boiling the juice with the sugar until it jellies. Sugar must dissolve fully before the second boil, and the jelly must reach the gel point. Boiling too briefly leaves it runny, while boiling too long can make it stiff and dull in flavour.
“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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