Why it works: Sugar and cherry are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,598 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Cherry Cheese
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Remove the stones from the cherries.
Break the stones of some cherries and blanch the kernels.
Make the jam
Combine the cherries, kernels, and sugar in a kettle.
Boil gently until the jam becomes clear.
Pot and store
Pour into small, shallow pots and store in a dry place.
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.
-
Sugar + cherrytop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,598 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
- Cherries
- Provide the fruit, flavor, and bulk that make up the jam.
- Loaf sugar
- Sweetens the jam and helps it set as it thickens during boiling.
- Cherry kernels
- Add a subtle almond-like aroma to the finished jam.
The step that matters
Boil gently until the jam becomes clear. Boiling too hard can scorch the sugar and fruit or break down the pectin, while boiling gently lets the jam thicken evenly and reach a clear, well-set texture.
“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.
More cherry jam recipes
You might also like
Cherry Pudding108 recipes
Cherry Ice24 recipes
Cherry Ice Cream8 recipes
Cherry Bread Pudding6 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.