Why it works: Grape and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 23% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,490 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Grape Syrup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Place grapes in a large stone jar and cover with water.
Dissolve tartaric acid in a little water and pour over the grapes, mixing thoroughly.
Rest and strain
Let the mixture stand for 24 hours.
Strain the mixture carefully.
Sweeten and bottle
To each pint of juice, add 1 1/4 pt of sugar and stir until dissolved, which will take 12 to 24 hours.
Bottle the syrup.
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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Grape + sugartop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,490 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Grapes
- Provide the juice that forms the body and flavor of the syrup.
- Tartaric acid
- Adds tartness that balances the sweetness of the finished syrup.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and body, and thickens the juice into a syrup.
The step that matters
Dissolving the sugar in the juice. Sugar dissolves slowly in cold liquid, so it must be stirred until fully dissolved. Undissolved sugar can settle or crystallize, leaving the syrup grainy and unevenly sweet.
“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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