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Dessert

Apple Snow

Apple Snow is a dessert made from steamed apples, whipped egg whites, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and currant are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,918 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, pear. The science ↓

Apple Snow

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the apples

  1. Steam the apples until soft.

  2. Pass the pulp through a sieve.

  3. Stir in the granulated sugar and lemon extract.

Make the snow

  1. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks.

  2. Fold in the apple mixture and powdered sugar.

Serve

  1. Heap the apple snow on a large glass dish.

  2. Top with bits of currant or raspberry jelly.

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. Apple + curranttop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,918 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

  2. Apple + lemontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,551 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together16,478 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together44,316 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

Apple and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 16,478 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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 flavor, and soften into a smooth pulp when steamed and sieved.
Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks, they trap air and give the dish its light, snowy structure.
Granulated sugar
Sweetens the apple pulp and helps stabilize the mixture.
Powdered sugar
Folded in to sweeten the airy mixture while keeping it light.

The step that matters

Beating the egg whites to stiff peaks. Under-beaten whites stay runny and won't hold air, so the apple mixture will deflate. Over-beaten whites turn dry and grainy and separate. Stop when the peaks stand upright and look glossy, then fold gently to keep the air in.

Swap the currant

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

  1. Orangefits better
  2. Pearfits better
  3. Vanillafits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against apple, sugar, lemon, 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.

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