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Dessert

Apple Butter

A sweet, spiced apple preserve made by cooking apples and cider until thick.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Apple Butter

Ingredients

Directions

Make the cider base

  1. Boil the cider until only half remains.

Prepare the apples

  1. Stew the apples in water and strain them through a colander.

Cook the apple butter

  1. Add the strained apples to the boiling cider.

  2. When the mixture is almost thick enough, add the sugar.

  3. Just before removing from heat, add the spices.

  4. Test for thickness; it should not separate from the cider.

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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Cider + appletop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,238 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,598 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

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

What each ingredient does

Apples
Provide the bulk of the pulp that cooks down into a thick, spreadable texture.
Cider
Supplies the liquid that reduces and concentrates into the base flavor.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps thicken the butter as it cooks down.
Cinnamon
Contributes warm aroma and spice flavor.
Allspice
Adds warm, aromatic spice flavor.
Cloves
Adds strong aromatic spice flavor in small amounts.

The step that matters

Test for thickness; it should not separate from the cider. Apple butter is done when the pulp and liquid stay combined as a smooth, thick mass. Cooking too briefly leaves it watery and separated, while overcooking can scorch the sugar on the bottom of the pot, so the test matters.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cider, sugar, cinnamon, allspice, clove):

  1. Applethe original
  2. Vanillafits about as well
  3. Figfits about as well
  4. Quincefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against cider, sugar, cinnamon, allspice, clove. 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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