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 ↓
Damson Cheese
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Boil the fruit in enough water to cover it.
Strain the pulp through a coarse sieve.
Make the cheese
Add ¼ pound of sugar for each pound of fruit.
Boil until it begins to candy on the sides.
Pour into tin molds.
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
- Damson plums
- Provide the fruit pulp that gives the cheese its body and tart flavour.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pulp and helps it thicken and set as it cooks down.
The step that matters
Boil until it begins to candy on the sides. Cooking the pulp with sugar drives off water and concentrates the sugar. If it is stopped too early the cheese stays soft and will not hold its shape in the molds.
“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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