Why it works: Apple and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,478 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Ckab Apple Jelly and Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the apples
Remove stems and blossoms from the apples.
Scald the apples and pour off the first water.
Place the apples in plenty of water and cook slowly until they begin to soften.
Make the jelly
Dip off the juice for jelly, straining it through flannel.
For jelly, use 1 pound of juice to 1 pound of sugar.
Make the jam
Add more water to the apples and let them stew until very soft.
Strain the pulp through a sieve to remove cores and seeds.
To the pulp, add an equal amount of brown sugar and cook carefully while stirring.
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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Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16,478 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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 pectin and body for both the jelly and the jam.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jelly and helps it set into a firm gel.
- Brown sugar
- Sweetens the jam and adds a deeper, caramel-like flavour.
The step that matters
Cooking the pulp with brown sugar while stirring. Sugar thickens and can scorch on the bottom of the pan if left unstirred, so constant stirring over gentle heat keeps the jam from burning and helps it reach a set.
“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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