Why it works: Sugar and cherry are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,598 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Cherry Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Stone and weigh the cherries.
Cook the jam
Boil the cherries over a brisk fire for 1 hour, stirring constantly to prevent sticking.
Add 3 lbs of powdered sugar and boil quickly for 20 minutes, skimming off any scum that rises.
If desired, add blanched cherry kernels 5 minutes before removing from heat.
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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Sugar + cherrytop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,598 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cherries
- Provide the fruit, pectin and acidity that form the jam's body and flavor.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the jam and helps it set into a thick, spreadable texture.
The step that matters
Stirring constantly during the first hour. Cherries are high in sugar-rich juice that scorches quickly on the bottom of the pan, and constant stirring prevents sticking and burnt flavor while the fruit breaks down.
“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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