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To Dry Imperatrice Plums

A method for drying Imperatrice plums with sugar in jars.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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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 ↓

To Dry Imperatrice Plums

Oven, in the book's wordsA very cool oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a very cool oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Place plums in jars or wide-necked bottles.

  2. Add 8 ounces of sugar for each pound of plums.

Cook

  1. Set jars in a cool oven at 300°F (150°C) for 4 to 5 hours, or boil gently in a pan of cold water for 3 hours.

Finish

  1. Leave plums in syrup for a few days.

  2. Tie a bladder over the necks of the jars before boiling, and cover with paper or cork.

  3. Ensure sugar is added after the fruit to dissolve gradually.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Plum + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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

Imperatrice plums
The main fruit, providing the flavor and chewy texture of the finished dried plums.
Granulated sugar
Draws water out of the fruit and forms a syrup that preserves it and adds sweetness.

The step that matters

Keep the heat gentle. Low, slow heat dries the plums gradually, so the skins stay intact and the sugar syrup penetrates evenly. Vigorous boiling can split the fruit and cause uneven results.

“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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