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Preserve

Canned Fruits

A method for preserving various fruits in sterilized jars using egg white sealing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Pear and bartlett pear share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 19 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-methylbutyl acetate, which smells fruit. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Contains: egg (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Also mentioned in the method: egg white

Directions

Prepare and fill

  1. Sterilize jars and prepare fruit by washing and cutting as needed.

  2. Fill jars with fruit, leaving no space.

Seal and store

  1. Cut paper to fit jars, dip in egg white, and press onto jar rim for sealing.

  2. Tie down the paper securely and add more layers if needed.

  3. Store jars in a dry place to prevent mold.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Pear + bartlett peartop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together19 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  2. Apple + peartop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together648 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

  3. Peach + peartop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together114 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanol (green, fruity).

  4. Apple + quincetop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together506 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  5. Apple + peachtop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together302 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

The step that matters

Sealing the jars. The egg white paper must be pressed onto the rim and tied down securely. Air that gets past the seal lets mold grow on the fruit, so a weak seal is the main risk.

Flavor stand-ins for the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, peach, pear, bartlett pear, pineapple, rhubarb, quince):

  1. Capsicumbetter flavor fit
  2. Tomatothe original
  3. Lettuceabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Beetrootabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against apple, peach, pear, bartlett pear, pineapple, rhubarb, quince. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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