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Fruit to Preserve

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Pear and plum match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 245 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Fruit to Preserve

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Rub the fruit with a clean cloth to remove dirt.

  2. For small fruits like strawberries, lay them on a cloth and lightly rub with a second cloth.

  3. Use copper utensils exclusively for boiling the fruit.

  4. Clean and dry bottles and jars in the sun or open air a few days before use.

  5. If unsure about cleanliness, burn a piece of brown paper in the jar to sanitize it.

  6. Fill the jars with fruit, covering them just with syrup.

  7. Soak a piece of paper in brandy and place it over the fruit before sealing the jar.

  8. Seal the jars and let them sit for a week before using.

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. Pear + plumtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together245 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Apple + peartop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together649 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

  3. Apple + plumtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together404 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Apple + brandytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,291 recipes

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

  5. Plum + brandytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together168 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

Swap the apple

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

  1. Apricotfits better
  2. Peachfits about as well
  3. Vanillafits about as well
  4. Applethe original

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

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