Why it works: Lemon and orange match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Plum Preserves
Ingredients
Directions
Make a thick syrup with sugar and pour it over the plums. Cover well and let it stand overnight.
In the morning, drain off the syrup, boil it, and skim for 5 to 10 minutes.
Drop the plums into the syrup and place them in a fireless cooker with a warm stone that can almost be handled.
Let them sit for 1 to 2 hours. If the syrup is not thick enough, drain and boil it again.
Alternatively, you can set the plums in a slow oven instead of using a fireless cooker.
Add a little lemon and orange juice to the syrup.
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.
-
Lemon + orangetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,634 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
-
Plum + orangetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together309 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Plum + lemontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together623 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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
Swap the plum
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, lemon, orange):
- Limefits better
- Vanillafits better
- Blueberryfits better
- Plumthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, lemon, orange. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
More plum preserves recipes
You might also like
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Lemon Cake228 recipes
Lemon Ice147 recipes
Orange Cream Rice Pudding121 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.