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 Juice
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the grapes
Stem the grapes and place them in an earthen jar or agate pot.
Add enough water to cover the grapes.
Extract the juice
Heat slowly until the grapes are thoroughly cooked.
Drain the mixture through a jelly bag for several hours without squeezing.
Sweeten and bottle
For every gallon of juice, add 1 pound of granulated sugar.
Heat the juice until hot, but do not boil.
Can or bottle the juice while hot and seal.
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
- Grapes
- Provide the flavour and the juice itself once cooked and drained.
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the juice and balances the grapes' tartness.
The step that matters
Heat the juice until hot, but do not boil. Boiling after the sugar is added can darken the flavour and change the fresh taste of the juice. Holding it just below a boil keeps the sugar dissolved and the flavour bright before it is sealed.
“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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