Why it works: Sugar and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 122,807 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Strawberry Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Make the jam
Gently boil the strawberries until thick and reduced.
Add ¾ to 1 pound of loaf sugar and stir constantly until it reduces to a paste.
Jar and seal
Transfer to small jars and cover with egg white-coated paper.
Tie a second paper over the jars to secure.
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 + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 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
- Strawberries
- Provide the fruit, pectin and flavour that the jam thickens and tastes of.
- Loaf sugar
- Sweetens the jam and, as it reduces, thickens it into a spreadable paste.
The step that matters
Stirring the sugar in while the mixture reduces. Sugar added to hot fruit can scorch on the bottom of the pan if not stirred constantly, giving a burnt taste. Constant stirring keeps the sugar dissolved and the jam evenly thickened.
“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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