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Dessert

Cranberry Conserve

A sweet preserve made from cranberries, raisins, oranges, sugar, and walnuts.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Orange and walnut are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,058 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Cranberry Conserve

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine cranberries, raisins, oranges, and sugar in a large pot.

  2. Cook gently for about 20 minutes until thickened.

  3. Remove from heat and stir in walnut meats.

  4. Allow to cool before transferring to jars.

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. Orange + walnuttop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  2. Raisin + orangetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,684 recipes

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

  3. Raisin + walnuttop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together647 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

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

  5. Walnut + meattop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,035 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Cranberries
Provide the tart fruit base that gives the preserve its body and flavour.
Sugar
Sweetens the preserve and, as it dissolves, helps it thicken and keep.
Seeded raisins
Add concentrated sweetness and chewy texture to the fruit mixture.
Oranges
Add citrus acidity and aroma that brighten the sweetness of the fruit.
Walnut meats
Add crunch and a nutty flavour that contrasts with the soft fruit.

The step that matters

Cook gently for about 20 minutes until thickened. Sugar and fruit pectin thicken as liquid evaporates and the mixture concentrates. Cooking too hard can scorch the sugar on the pot bottom, while stopping too early leaves the preserve runny.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (raisin, sugar, walnut, meat):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Coconutfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, sugar, walnut, meat. 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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