Why it works: Pear and syrup work together. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 254 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Crab Apples
Ingredients
Directions
Thrust a copper needle several times through the pears from blossom end to stem.
Peel and scrape the pears.
Place pears in a kettle with cold water and bring to a simmer until softened.
Transfer pears to jars and cover with boiling 20-degree syrup.
After 12 hours, reboil the syrup and increase its strength to 22 degrees.
Gradually increase the syrup strength to 36 degrees, wash in 30-degree syrup, and dry on trays.
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.
-
Pear + syruptop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together254 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
You might also like
Oranges in Syrup9 recipes
Syrup Sauce6 recipes
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.