Skip to main content
Dessert

Greengages in Syrup

Greengages preserved in a clarified sugar syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Sugar and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Greengages in Syrup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the syrup

  1. Score the greengages with a penknife.

  2. In a preserving pan, combine the same weight of sugar and enough water to prevent burning.

  3. Bring the mixture to a boil, then clarify with the egg white and remove from heat.

Scald and bottle

  1. Once the syrup is cold, add the greengages and scald them.

  2. Repeat the scalding process three to four times at daily intervals.

  3. After the final scald, boil the syrup alone until thick and rich.

  4. Pour the syrup over the greengages in clean, dry bottles and seal them.

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. Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Egg + syruptop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,995 recipes

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

What each ingredient does

Greengages
Provide the fruit, which softens and holds its shape during repeated scalding.
Sugar
Sweetens the fruit and, when boiled down, thickens the syrup and helps preserve it.
Egg white
Binds impurities in the syrup so they can be skimmed off, leaving a clearer syrup.

The step that matters

Repeating the scalding at daily intervals. Scalding the fruit in syrup repeatedly draws in sugar gradually, so the fruit keeps its shape and is preserved. Scalding too hard or too long can break the skins and soften the fruit.

“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.

You might also like

Oranges in SyrupOranges in Syrup9 recipesSyrup SauceSyrup Sauce6 recipesWhite CakeWhite Cake431 recipesPound CakePound Cake373 recipes