Why it works: Grape and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 23% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,490 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Grape Juice
Ingredients
Directions
Extract the juice
Place the grapes in deep pitchers and put them in the oven overnight with the lamp turned low.
In the morning, pour the clear juice into pint bottles without pressing the grapes.
Bottle and seal
Add 2 teaspoons of sugar to each bottle.
Put the bottles back in the oven, raise the wick, and leave for two hours.
Fill the bottles with hot juice and cork them.
When nearly cold, drive the corks in tightly with a hammer.
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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Grape + sugartop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,490 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
- Grapes
- Provide the juice, which is extracted by gentle heat without pressing the fruit.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness to the juice and balances its natural tartness.
The step that matters
Pouring off the juice without pressing the grapes. Pressing the grapes forces out pulp and solids, which cloud the juice and can make it spoil sooner. Letting the clear juice drain off on its own keeps the bottled result clear and stable.
“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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