Why it works: Corn and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,168 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Canned Corn
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the corn off the cob, scraping out as much juice as possible.
Fill jars compactly with the corn.
Dissolve salt and sugar in a little hot water and add to the jars.
Steam and seal
Put on the lid (without the rubber) and steam in a boiler of water for 2 hours.
Remove jars, fill with boiling water, and screw down tight.
Return jars to the boiler, ensuring water covers them, and boil for 2 hours longer.
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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Corn + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,168 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Corn
- Provides the main body and sweet flavour of the preserved dish.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the saltiness of the corn.
- Salt
- Seasons the corn and helps preserve its flavour during storage.
The step that matters
Return jars to the boiler, ensuring water covers them. Jars must stay fully covered with water during the long boil so heat reaches the contents evenly and the jars seal properly. Water that drops below the jars can leave the corn underprocessed, which risks spoilage.
“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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