Why it works: Pear and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,079 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Canned Pears
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare and can pears like peaches.
Cook them longer until easily pierced with a silver fork.
For syrup, use ¾ pound of sugar for every pound of fruit, and ¼ pound of sugar for each pint of water.
Select fine pears.
Prick them with a needle to prevent bursting.
Simmer the pears gently in the syrup for no longer than 5 minutes.
Place the pears in a jar.
Pour in the hot syrup.
Seal.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
-
Pear + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,079 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
- Pears
- Soften as they cook, becoming tender while holding their shape in the syrup.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the fruit and syrup and helps preserve the canned pears.
The step that matters
Prick the pears before simmering. Pricking lets trapped air and steam escape from the fruit, so the pears are less likely to split or burst during cooking.
“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.
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.