Why it works: Sugar and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Stewed Prunes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash prunes thoroughly in warm water.
Add cold water and soak overnight.
Cook
Cook in the soaking water below boiling until tender.
Add sugar and cook for 5 more minutes, then remove from heat.
Stir in lemon juice.
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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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
- Prunes
- The main fruit, which softens and turns tender and sweet as it soaks and cooks.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and gives the cooking liquid a syrupy body.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and balances the sweetness.
The step that matters
Cook below boiling. Simmering gently softens the prunes evenly while keeping their skins intact. A hard boil can split the skins and break the fruit apart.
“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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