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 ↓
Vert Fine Imperatrice-plum Marmalade
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Weigh 6 pounds of ripe Imperatrice plums before frost touches them.
Cut each plum and place them in a preserving pan.
Cook the plums
Boil the plums for 35 to 40 minutes.
Remove the stones as they rise to the surface.
Add sugar and set
Remove the pan from heat and stir in 2 pounds of powdered sugar.
Boil the mixture quickly for 15 minutes.
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 body, flavor and natural pectin that helps the marmalade set.
- Powdered sugar
- Adds sweetness, preserves the fruit and helps the marmalade set when boiled.
The step that matters
Boil the mixture quickly after adding the sugar. Sugar and pectin only form a firm gel when the mixture is concentrated and reaches a high enough temperature. Boiling too gently leaves the marmalade runny, while overcooking can scorch the sugar and darken the flavor.
“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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