Why it works: Sugar and apple are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,478 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Blackberry Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Pick and wash the blackberries.
Boil the blackberries in a pot for about 10 minutes.
Add the sugar and stir well, removing any scum that forms.
Continue boiling for 30 to 45 minutes until it reaches the desired consistency.
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 + appletop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16,478 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar and apple barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 16,478 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
- Blackberries
- Make up the fruit base and provide the main flavour and colour of the jam.
- White sugar
- Adds sweetness and, with the fruit's pectin and acid, helps the jam set and keep.
- Apples
- Add natural pectin, which helps the jam thicken and set.
The step that matters
Continue boiling until the desired consistency. Jam sets as water evaporates and the sugar and pectin concentrate. Stopping too early leaves it runny, while boiling too long can make it stiff and dull in flavour, so check the set rather than relying only on the clock.
“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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