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Dessert

Grape Conserve

A preserve made from grape skins, pulp, juice, sugar, raisins, and almonds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,781 recipes. Both carry 2-nonanone, which smells fruity, floral. The science ↓

Grape Conserve

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the grapes

  1. Put the grape skins in one dish and the pulp in another.

  2. Boil the pulp and strain to remove seeds.

  3. Add the skins to the strained pulp and cook until tender.

  4. Strain again.

Make the preserve

  1. To the juice, add brown sugar and raisins.

  2. Boil until thick.

  3. Remove from heat and stir in chopped almonds.

Seal

  1. Pour into glasses and seal.

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. Raisin + almondtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  2. Grape + almondtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,435 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-methylbutanol (malty, whiskey).

  3. Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  5. Grape + raisintop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together218 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

Grape juice
Forms the liquid base that cooks down into the thick preserve.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and, as water evaporates, helps the preserve thicken.
Raisins
Add concentrated sweetness and a chewy texture.
Almonds
Add crunch and nutty flavor that contrasts with the soft fruit.

The step that matters

Boil until thick. Water evaporates as the mixture boils, so sugar and fruit concentrate. Stopping too early leaves it runny, while boiling too long can make it stiff and prone to scorching on the bottom of the pan.

Swap the grape

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, raisin, almond. 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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