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Grape Catsup

A fermented grape-based condiment made with sugar, vinegar, pepper, salt, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Grape and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,909 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Grape Catsup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the grapes

  1. Pick ripe grapes from the stems.

  2. Add enough water to cover the grapes.

  3. Cook the grapes until they are soft.

  4. Rub the cooked grapes through a sieve.

Make the ketchup

  1. Add 1 cup sugar to the mixture.

  2. Add 1 cup vinegar to the mixture.

  3. Add a little pepper, salt, and spices to the mixture.

  4. Boil the mixture until it thickens to the consistency of tomato ketchup.

Bottle

  1. Bottle the catsup.

  2. Seal the bottle.

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. Grape + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,909 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Grape + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,589 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

  3. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

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

  5. Grape + sugartop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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 main body, flavour and pulp that form the ketchup base.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps thicken the mixture as it reduces.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that gives the ketchup its tangy flavour and helps keep it stable.

The step that matters

Boil until it thickens. Boiling drives off water so the mixture reduces to a thick, spreadable consistency. Stopping too early leaves it runny, while over-reducing makes it stiff and sticky.

Swap the grape

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, vinegar, pepper):

  1. Lemonfits better
  2. Cherryfits better
  3. Limefits better
  4. Grapethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, vinegar, pepper. 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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