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Dessert

Apple Preserve

Apple preserve made by boiling apples, straining, and cooking with sugar, spices, and lemon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Apple Preserve

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the apples

  1. Wipe the apples, remove the stalks, and cut out any bruised or decayed spots.

  2. Place the apples in a large pot, filling it three-quarters full.

  3. Cover the apples with cold water and boil until they become a pulp.

Drain the pulp

  1. Hang a loose flannel bag between two chairs with a pan underneath.

  2. Pour the apple mixture into the bag and let it drain until dry, pressing occasionally with a wooden spoon.

  3. Measure the liquid the next day.

Make the preserve

  1. For each quart of liquid, add 1 pound of sugar.

  2. Add 12 cloves.

  3. Add ¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg.

  4. Add a small piece of stick cinnamon tied in muslin.

  5. Add the thinly pared yellow rind and juice of the lemon to the mixture.

  6. Boil until thick.

  7. Remove the muslin bag.

  8. Pour the preserve into molds or jars.

  9. Let it cool; it will become solid.

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.

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.

  1. Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,598 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  5. Nutmeg + lemontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Small apples
Provide the pulp and pectin that give the preserve its body.
Sugar
Sweetens and, as it thickens during boiling, helps the preserve set firm.
Lemon
Adds acidity and brightness and helps balance the sweetness.

The step that matters

Boil until thick. Sugar and fruit solids must concentrate until the mixture reaches a gel point. Stopping too early leaves a runny preserve, while boiling too long can make it stiff or scorch.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, lemon):

  1. Orangefits better
  2. Limefits better
  3. Vanillafits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, lemon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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