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Dessert

Grape Conserve

A preserve made from Concord grapes, water, sugar, raisins, almonds, oranges, and lemons.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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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 the grapes

  1. Pulp the grapes and save the skins.

  2. Put the grape pulp in a pot and bring to a boil.

  3. Sift the pulp through a flour sifter to remove the seeds.

Cook the preserve

  1. Add the skins, water, sugar, oranges (cut into very small pieces, seeds removed, peel cut into pieces), and raisins to the pot.

  2. Boil for thirty minutes.

  3. Just before removing from the heat, add the almonds cut into long strips.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

185Calories
2 gProtein
1 gFat
47 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Orange1 medium (131g)62
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Colville, Jessie Henderson. [from old catalog]. 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. 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.

  1. Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Orange + grapetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,771 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Orange + raisintop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,684 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Lemon + grapetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,412 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Grapes
Provide the pulp and skins that form the body and flavour of the preserve.
Sugar
Sweetens the preserve and helps it thicken and keep as it cooks down.
Oranges
Add acidity and citrus aroma, with the peel contributing bitter flavour.
Raisins
Add sweetness and chewy texture to the preserve.

The step that matters

Adding the almonds just before removing from the heat. Almonds added early would soften and lose their crunch during the long boil. Adding them at the end keeps their texture and flavour distinct in the finished preserve.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (orange, sugar, lemon, grape):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Cranberryfits better
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against orange, sugar, lemon, grape. 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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