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Dessert

Rhubarb and Fig Jam

A sweet preserve made from dried figs, rhubarb, sugar, and lemon juice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Fig and rhubarb share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 48 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 figs and rhubarb, then cut both into small pieces.

  2. Combine the fruit with sugar and strained lemon juice in a basin and mix well.

  3. Allow the mixture to stand overnight.

Cook and seal

  1. Butter the bottom of a preserving pan lightly, then add the fruit mixture.

  2. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 35 minutes.

  3. Seal the jam while hot.

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. Fig + rhubarbtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together48 recipes

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

  2. Rhubarb + lemontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together546 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Fig + lemontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together763 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  4. Fig + sugartop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,241 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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

Dried figs
Provide body, natural sweetness and a chewy texture to the jam.
Sugar
Sweetens the jam and helps it set by binding water and preserving the fruit.
Rhubarb
Adds tartness and bright acidity that balances the sweetness of the figs and sugar.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens flavour and supports the jam's setting.

The step that matters

Simmer until the jam is thick. Sugar and fruit pectin only set properly when enough water evaporates and the mixture reaches a high enough concentration. Stopping too early leaves a runny jam, while overcooking can make it dull and overly stiff.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Quincefits better
  3. Pearfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

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