Name: Apple Soup
Ingredients: 4 cups peeled and quartered apples; 1½ pints water; 1 teaspoon cornstarch; 3 teaspoons sugar; ¼ teaspoon cinnamon; a pinch of salt; 1 cup of rice

Why it works: Apple and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 5,598 recipes mention both. Both carry methyl cinnamate, which smells strawberry. The science ↓

Apple Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Cook the apples in a little water until soft.
Mash the cooked apples and rub through a sieve.
Add water to thin the mixture as needed.

Season and serve

Stir in cornstarch, sugar, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt.
If desired, add cooked rice to the soup.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together5,598 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Cinnamon + ricetop 4% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together2,137 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Aroma overlaplow

Mentioned together30,779 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Apple + ricetop 13% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together1,311 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Aroma overlaplow

Mentioned together16,478 recipes

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

Sugar and cinnamon share little aroma chemistry, yet 30,779 recipes mention both: they likely 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

Apples: Provide the main body and fruity flavour once cooked and puréed.
Cornstarch: Thickens the soup as it is stirred in, giving it a smoother body.
Rice: Adds bulk and a soft, starchy texture to the soup.

“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.