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Dessert

Sweetmeats of Citron or Cantaloupe Melons

Preserved cantaloupe or citron melons sweetened with ginger, crab-apples, and sugar, then boiled in syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Grape and apple match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,659 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

Sweetmeats of Citron or Cantaloupe Melons

Ingredients

Directions

Green the melons

  1. Place the melons in a skillet and cover with grape or collard leaves.

  2. Add enough water to cover the melons and place a small bag of ashes on top.

  3. Simmer slowly until the melons are tender.

  4. Soak the melons in a strong saltwater solution for 3-4 days after harvesting.

  5. Thinly cut off the outer rind and then green the melons.

  6. Scrape out the seeds and pulp; preserve small melons whole and cut large ones as desired.

  7. Soak the melons in cold water, changing it 3-4 times daily until crisp.

Make the syrup

  1. Prepare syrup: for every pound of melons, use 3 ounces of ginger and 2-3 crab-apples.

  2. Boil the ginger gently for 4 hours, then slice thin.

  3. Weigh the melons, apples, and ginger together to determine the amount of sugar needed for the syrup.

  4. Clarify the syrup, then add the apples, ginger, and melons; boil for 10 minutes.

  5. Dry the melons well before adding them to the syrup and boil for another 10 minutes.

  6. Let the mixture stand for several days, then boil again 3-4 times until clear.

  7. On the final boil, ensure the syrup reaches candy height; add more syrup if needed.

  8. Once cooled, add a few drops of essence of lemon.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Grape + appletop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,659 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  2. Ginger + lemontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,154 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Melon + grapetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together126 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  4. Melon + appletop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together86 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Melon + gingertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together342 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Melons
Form the sweetmeat itself; softening and then syrup absorption make them tender and translucent.
Sugar
Forms the syrup that preserves the melons and sets them into a candied, sweet texture.
Best white ginger
Adds a sharp, warm spice flavour that balances the sweetness of the syrup.
Crab-apples
Contribute tartness and pectin to the syrup, adding body and acidity.
Ashes
Alkaline ash water helps soften the melon flesh and firm its texture during greening.

The step that matters

Reaching candy height on the final boil. Syrup must reach the right concentration to preserve the melons and keep them from fermenting or weeping. Too little boiling leaves the syrup thin and the fruit spoils; too much makes it hard and sugary.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (melon, grape, ginger, crab, apple, sugar):

  1. Pearfits better
  2. Plumfits better
  3. Pineapplefits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against melon, grape, ginger, crab, apple, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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