Why it works: Apple and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,478 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Apple Marmalade or Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the apples
Pare and core the apples.
Place the apples in a preserving pan and add enough water to cover them.
Boil slowly until the apples are reduced to a mash.
Pass the mash through a colander.
Make the marmalade
For each pound of pulp, add 12 ounces of sugar.
Return to the fire and boil until it falls in clots from the spatula.
Transfer to jars, cover with brandied paper, and secure the lid.
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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Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16,478 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Apple and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 16,478 recipes: they 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 bulk of the pulp and the fruit flavor that the marmalade is built on.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pulp and, as it cooks down, helps the mixture thicken and set.
The step that matters
Boiling until it falls in clots. Sugar and fruit pectin only set properly once enough water has evaporated and the mixture reaches a thick, concentrated state. Stopping early leaves a runny marmalade, while overcooking can make it stiff and sticky.
“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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