Why it works: Brandy and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,738 recipes. Both carry gamma-nonanolactone, which smells coconut, sweet. The science ↓
Cherry Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash and dry jars thoroughly before use.
Stone the cherries using a cherry pitter.
Cook the jam
Place the stoned cherries in a preserving pan and bring to a boil, stirring and skimming as needed.
Once boiling, add 1 pound of sugar and stir until dissolved.
Boil steadily until the jam sets, about 30 to 45 minutes.
Cool and seal
Allow the jam to cool in the jars.
Place paper soaked in brandy on top of the jam, then cover with parchment or paper soaked in milk to seal.
Ensure no stones remain by skimming them off the surface while boiling.
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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Brandy + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,738 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,939 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
What each ingredient does
- Cherries
- Provide the fruit that forms the body and flavour of the jam.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jam and helps it thicken and set as it boils.
The step that matters
Boil steadily until the jam sets. Sugar and fruit must reach a high enough concentration to gel. Stopping too early leaves runny jam, while boiling too long can make it stiff and dull in flavour.
“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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