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Grape Catsup

A sweet and spicy grape preserve made with vinegar and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Grape and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,589 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, fruity. The science ↓

Grape Catsup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pulp

  1. Cook the grapes until tender.

  2. Pass the cooked grapes through a sieve.

  3. Season the grape pulp with spices to taste.

Cook and seal

  1. Cook for 20 minutes, then add the vinegar.

  2. Add 1 quart of vinegar and 3 cups of sugar to the grape pulp.

  3. Cook for an additional 15 minutes.

  4. Seal the mixture while hot.

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

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

  2. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

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

  3. 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

Grapes
Form the pulp that gives the ketchup its body and fruity base.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavor and helps preserve the ketchup.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and body as the mixture cooks down.

The step that matters

Seal the mixture while hot. Filling jars while the ketchup is hot drives out air and lets the jars seal as they cool. A good seal helps keep the ketchup stored safely and prevents spoilage.

Swap the grape

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Strawberryfits better
  3. Pineapplefits better
  4. Grapethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sugar. 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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