Why it works: Sugar and cider are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 27% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,308 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
To Color Cider
Ingredients
Directions
Make the colouring
Burn the sugar in a frying pan over low heat until black.
Dissolve the burnt sugar in hot water.
Add the alum to the mixture and stir until dissolved.
Colour and store
Combine the mixture with the cider and stir well.
Store the cask in a cool place.
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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Sugar + cidertop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,308 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Burning it creates a dark caramel colour that tints the cider.
- Alum
- Acts as a mordant-like additive that helps the colour set and hold in the liquid.
- Cider
- Forms the liquid base that the dark colouring is blended into.
The step that matters
Burn the sugar until black. Sugar that is only lightly browned gives a weak colour, while overheating can turn it bitter. Cooking over low heat lets it darken evenly and keeps control of the colour.
“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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