Why it works: Tomato and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 33% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,667 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Preserved Tomatoes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Skin the tomatoes by pouring boiling water over them.
Cook
Boil the tomatoes very hard for 20 minutes.
Jar and seal
Fill pint jars to overflowing.
Screw the jars down tight.
As the jars cool, screw them down again to ensure they are tight.
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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Tomato + sugartop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,667 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tomatoes
- Make up the body of the preserve and supply the acidity and liquid.
- White sugar
- Adds sweetness that balances the tomatoes' acidity.
The step that matters
Screwing the jars down again as they cool. As hot jars cool, the air inside contracts and creates a partial vacuum that pulls the lids down. Tightening them again during cooling helps ensure a firm seal, which keeps air and microbes out of the preserved tomatoes.
“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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