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 ↓
Damson Cheese
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Bake or boil the damsons in a stone jar until tender and the stones separate easily.
If using skins, remove the stones with a spoon; if not, rub the fruit through a coarse sieve to discard the skins.
Measure the fruit and place it in a preserving pan over a brisk fire.
Cook the cheese
Boil quickly until all liquid evaporates and the fruit is dry.
Add ½ pound of powdered loaf sugar for every quart of fruit and continue boiling until the mixture candies to the sides of the pan.
Crack the stones, skin the kernels, and boil them in the jam for appearance, if desired.
Pour into shallow vessels like jars or saucers and let 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
- Damsons
- Provide the main fruit pulp, flavour and natural pectin that help the cheese set.
- Powdered loaf sugar
- Sweetens the fruit and, as it boils down, helps the mixture thicken into a firm, sliceable set.
The step that matters
Boil until the mixture candies to the sides of the pan. Sugar and fruit must be concentrated far enough that the mixture sets when cool. Stopping too early leaves a soft, runny cheese, while overcooking can make it hard and sticky.
“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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