Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Grape Conserve
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Prepare ingredients: one basket of grapes (eight pounds), two pounds seeded raisins, two oranges, four lemons, one pound walnuts (or one-half pound shelled).
Make the preserve
Pulp grapes to remove seeds; chop skins; chop raisins; grate orange skins; cut pulp into fine pieces; grate lemon skins and add juice.
Cook with five pounds sugar for twenty minutes or more.
Put in chopped nuts just before taking from fire.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Grape | 1/2 cup (76g) | 62 |
| Orange | 1 medium (131g) | 62 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Walnut | 1 walnut half (4g) | 26 |
| Lemon | juice of 1 lemon (48ml) | 12 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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. See the original page.
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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Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,634 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
-
Walnut + lemontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,149 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Walnut + orangetop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,058 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Raisin + orangetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,684 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Raisin + walnuttop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together647 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Grapes (in the method)
- Provide the bulk of the preserve, with pulp and skins giving body and flavor.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the preserve and helps it thicken as it cooks down.
- Raisins
- Add concentrated sweetness and body to the preserve.
- Walnuts
- Add crunch and a toasty, nutty flavor against the soft fruit.
- Lemons
- Add acidity and brightness, and the zest adds aromatic oils.
The step that matters
Put in chopped nuts just before taking from fire. Nuts added too early soften and lose their crunch during long cooking. Adding them at the end keeps their texture and fresh flavor distinct in the finished preserve.
Swap the walnut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (raisin, sugar, orange, lemon):
- Almondfits better
- Pistachiofits better
- Chestnutfits better
- Walnutthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, sugar, orange, 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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