Why it works: Apple and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,478 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Black Bekky Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Make the jam
Combine blackberries, cooked apples, and sugar in a large pot.
Boil the mixture for 20 minutes.
Mash the fruit well and let it boil for another 20 minutes.
Weigh the mixture, allowing for the weight of the pot, and use ¾ pound of sugar for every pound of fruit.
Test the jam by placing a small amount on a plate; it is ready when no juice gathers around it.
Store
Pour the jam into glasses or stone jars for storage.
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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Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16,478 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Apple and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 16,478 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Blackberries
- Provide the main fruit flavor, color, and bulk of the jam.
- Cooked apples
- Add natural pectin that helps the jam thicken and set.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jam and helps it thicken and keep well.
The step that matters
Testing for doneness. Jam sets as it cools, so judging by the plate test rather than time matters. Sugar and pectin need enough cooking to gel, and undercooked jam stays runny.
“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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