Why it works: Plum and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,313 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Plum Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Prepare the plums by skinning and pitting them.
In a deep dish, layer the plums with the sugar and let sit overnight.
Cook
In the morning, boil the mixture for 20 minutes until it bubbles over the entire surface.
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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Plum + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,313 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Plums
- Provide the fruit flesh, natural pectin and acidity that give the jam its body and tang.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness, draws water out of the fruit and helps the jam thicken and set.
The step that matters
Boil until it bubbles over the entire surface. The jam sets only when enough water evaporates and the sugar and pectin reach a high enough concentration. Stopping early leaves it runny, while boiling too long can darken and dull the flavour.
“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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