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Dessert

Rhubarb Marmalade

A preserve made from rhubarb, sugar, lemon, orange, almonds, ginger, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Rhubarb Marmalade

Why it works: Rhubarb and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 117 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Rhubarb Marmalade

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a large pot, combine the rhubarb, sugar, and a little water.

  2. Cook for 20 minutes over medium heat.

  3. Add the lemon juice and rind, chopped almonds, Jamaica ginger, and orange juice and rind.

  4. Cook all together for 30 minutes, or until the mixture is quite thick.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

  1. Rhubarb + almondtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together117 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Lemon + orangetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Ginger + orangetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,833 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Lemon + gingertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,154 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Rhubarb + orangetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together299 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

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

What each ingredient does

Rhubarb
Provides the main body and tart flavor that the marmalade is built around.
Granulated sugar
Sweetens the marmalade and helps it thicken as it cooks down into a preserve.
Lemons
Add acidity and brightness, and the rind adds aromatic citrus oil.
Blanched almonds
Add texture and body to the marmalade.
Jamaica ginger
Adds a warm, spicy aroma and flavor.

The step that matters

Cooking until quite thick. Sugar and fruit pectin set only when enough water evaporates and the sugar concentration rises. Stopping too early leaves a runny marmalade, while cooking too long can scorch the sugar on the bottom of the pot.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rhubarb, sugar, lemon, almond, orange):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits about as well
  3. Gingerthe original
  4. Peppermintfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against rhubarb, sugar, lemon, almond, orange. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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