Why it works: Sugar and plum 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 the fruit
Divide the plums and remove the stones, or cut them across and remove the stones as they rise in the pan.
Layer the fruit in a large dish with sugar spread thickly between each layer.
Let the fruit and sugar sit overnight.
Cook the jam
Transfer the mixture to a preserving pan and heat slowly by the side of the fire, stirring occasionally.
Boil gently until the jam sets quickly when tested on a cold plate.
Pot and store
Pour the jam into pots, cover, and store.
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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Sugar + plumtop 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
- Supply the bulk of the jam, its flavor, and natural pectin that helps it set.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the fruit, preserves it, and draws out juice so the jam thickens.
The step that matters
Boil gently until the jam sets. Sugar, pectin and fruit acid only gel at a high enough concentration. Stopping too early leaves runny jam, while boiling too long can darken the color and turn the flavor harsh or caramelized. Test on a cold plate to judge the set.
“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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