Why it works: Apple and pear match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 649 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, fruity. The science ↓
Preserving Apples and Pears
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Gather apples and pears on a dry day.
Wipe each fruit and roll it individually in very soft paper.
Pack and store
Pack the wrapped fruits in jars, filling each jar to about a gallon.
Seal the jars tightly to keep out air and store them in a dry cellar.
Ripen to eat
When ready to eat, remove the fruit from the paper and let it sit in a warm room for 2-3 days.
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 + peartop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together649 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Apples
- The main fruit, stored whole so its flesh keeps and ripens slowly.
- Pears
- The second main fruit, stored the same way and ripening slowly after wrapping.
The step that matters
Seal the jars tightly. Keeping air out slows spoilage and moisture loss, so the fruit stays sound in storage. Any gap lets air in and speeds decay.
“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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