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 ↓
Confiture De Prunes
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Prepare the plums or damsons as in previous recipes.
Combine the fruit with the brown sugar.
Cook and set
Cook until thick enough to tire the person stirring it.
Pour into pots and place in a 300°F (150°C) oven until the next morning.
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
- Plums or damsons
- Supply the fruit, natural pectin and acid that help the jam thicken and set.
- Brown sugar
- Sweetens the jam, helps it thicken, and preserves it by binding water.
The step that matters
Cook until thick enough. Jam sets as water evaporates and sugar concentrates, letting pectin and fruit acid form a gel. Undercooking leaves the jam runny, while overcooking makes it stiff and can caramelise the sugar.
“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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