Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg 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 Sherbet
Ingredients
Directions
Make the apple base
Select nice, bright-flavored apples and cook them with cinnamon bark, salt, and enough water to cover.
When the apples are very soft, mash them through a puree sieve.
Flavour and freeze
Add a grating of nutmeg and the juice of a lemon, then sweeten to taste.
Freeze the mixture, adding the beaten egg white.
Optionally, add small pieces of preserved ginger with the egg white.
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.
-
Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,380 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,598 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
-
Lemon + gingertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,154 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Nutmeg + gingertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,324 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Apples
- Provide the main body and flavour of the sherbet once cooked and pureed.
- Egg white
- Adds air and a lighter, smoother texture to the frozen mixture.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the sweetness and the apple flavour.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the mixture and softens the texture of the frozen dessert.
The step that matters
Freeze the mixture, adding the beaten egg white. Folding the egg white in while the mixture is partly frozen helps trap air, giving a lighter texture rather than a dense, icy one. Adding it too early or too late can make the result uneven.
Swap the ginger
The recipe marks ginger as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon, sugar, egg):
- Cardamomfits better
- Clovefits better
- Allspicefits about as well
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against apple, cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon, sugar, egg. 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.
You might also like
Apple Pudding256 recipes
Lemon Cake228 recipes
Ginger Cookies213 recipes
Lemon Ice147 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.