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 ↓
English Guava
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Strip the stalks from the bullaces and cut some of them.
Place the bullaces and plums into stone jars.
Boil the jars in pans of water as directed.
Make the preserve
Drain off the juice and strain it through a thick strainer or jelly bag.
Weigh the juice and boil it quickly for 15 to 20 minutes.
Stir in ¾ pound of sugar for every pound of juice until dissolved.
Remove the scum and boil the mixture again for 8 to 12 minutes, or longer if it doesn't set.
Pour the preserve into shallow pans or small molds and let it cool before serving.
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
- Shepherd's bullaces
- Provide the main fruit flavour and the natural pectin that helps the preserve set.
- Imperatrice plums
- Add extra body and colour to the fruit base.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the preserve and helps it thicken and keep as it cooks down.
The step that matters
Boiling the juice with sugar until it sets. Sugar must be added to the juice only after the scum is removed and the mixture is boiled again. Too little boiling leaves the preserve runny, while overcooking can make it stiff and dark. Pectin and acid in the fruit need sugar and heat together to form a gel.
“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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