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 pound of loaf sugar for every pound of fruit and stir constantly until it forms a paste.
Jar and cover
Pour into small jars and cover with egg paper, which is paper coated on one side with egg white.
Tie a second piece of paper over the jars to secure the cover.
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 + 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 base, whose natural pectin and water thicken as they reduce.
- Loaf sugar
- Sweetens the jam and, as it cooks down, helps it set into a thick paste.
The step that matters
Stirring constantly once the sugar is added. Sugar sits on the bottom of a thick fruit mixture and scorches easily, which gives a burnt flavour. Constant stirring spreads heat evenly as the jam thickens.
“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 strawberry jam recipes
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 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.