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Dessert

Rhubarb and Fig Jam

A jam made from rhubarb, figs, orange or lemon peel, and sugar, steeped and boiled.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Rhubarb and orange work together. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 299 recipes. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol, which smells clove, smoky. The science ↓

Rhubarb and Fig Jam

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash and dry the rhubarb, then cut it into pieces.

  2. Finely chop the figs and the orange or lemon peel.

Macerate and cook

  1. Combine the rhubarb, figs, peel, and sugar in a bowl and let steep for 24 hours.

  2. After steeping, boil the mixture for 1 hour.

Jar

  1. Pour the jam into jars and seal.

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 + orangetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together299 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

  2. Fig + orangetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together407 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Rhubarb + figtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together48 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

  4. Sugar + figtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,241 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Rhubarb + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,852 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

Rhubarb
Provides the tart flavour and the bulk of the jam's body as it breaks down.
Sugar
Sweetens the jam and helps set it while preserving the fruit.
Figs
Add sweet, mellow flavour and body to the jam.
Orange or lemon peel
Adds aromatic citrus oils and a touch of brightness.

The step that matters

Boiling after steeping. Sugar draws water out of the fruit during the 24-hour steep, so the mixture must be boiled long enough to concentrate and reach a thick, settled set before jarring.

Swap the orange

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Quincefits about as well
  3. Pearfits about as well
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rhubarb, sugar, fig. 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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