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 Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Boil ripe grapes until soft, about 1.5 hours.
Strain the mixture through a sieve.
Weigh the strained grapes and add ¾ pound of sugar for every pound of grapes.
Boil the mixture together for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, then strain again.
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
- Ripe grapes
- Provide the fruit pulp, natural pectin and tartness that give the jam its body and flavor.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps set the jam by binding water and thickening the mixture as it boils.
The step that matters
Boil the mixture with sugar for 20 minutes. Sugar and fruit must reach a boil long enough to concentrate and gel. Too short a boil leaves the jam runny; too long can make it dark and sticky.
“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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