Name: Crab-apples
Ingredients: 3 pounds crab-apples; 1.5 pounds sugar; 2 cups water

Why it works: Apple and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,478 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Crab-apples

Ingredients

3 pounds crab-apples
1.5 pounds sugar
2 cups water

Directions

In a pot, combine 2 cups of water and 1.5 pounds of sugar to make a syrup.
Bring the syrup to a boil.
Drop in the crab-apples and cook them quickly until done.
Fill a jar with the cooked crab-apples and pour the syrup over them.

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.

Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together16,478 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Crab + sugartop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together407 recipes

Shared aroma: hexanal (grass, green).
Crab + appletop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together343 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

Apple and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 16,478 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Crab-apples: Provide the fruit and its natural pectin and tartness that give the preserve its body and flavor.
Sugar: Sweetens the syrup and helps preserve the fruit by drawing out moisture.