Why it works: Rhubarb and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,852 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Rhubarb Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Macerate
Combine rhubarb and sugar in a bowl and let sit overnight.
Cook and jar
Pour off the syrup and boil it until it thickens.
Add the rhubarb to the thickened syrup and boil gently for 15 minutes.
Pour into sterilized jars and seal. Store in a cool place.
This jam will keep for up to a year.
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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Rhubarb + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,852 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
- Rhubarb
- Forms the bulk of the jam and provides its tart flavour.
- Sugar
- Draws juice out of the rhubarb to form syrup, and sweetens and helps preserve the jam.
The step that matters
Boiling the syrup until it thickens. Boiling concentrates the sugar in the syrup, which helps the jam set and keep well. If the syrup is not boiled long enough, the finished jam may be runny and spoil sooner.
“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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