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 Water-ice
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Boil the sugar and water together for 5 minutes.
Prepare the grapes
Pulp the grapes and add the pulps and skins to the syrup.
Let the mixture cool.
When cold, press through a fine sieve, being careful not to mash the seeds.
Freeze
Turn into the freezer and freeze.
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
- Concord grapes
- Provide the main flavour, colour and fruit body of the ice.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the mixture and lowers its freezing point, keeping the ice soft and scoopable.
- Water
- Dissolves the sugar and forms the liquid base that freezes into ice.
The step that matters
Press through a fine sieve without mashing the seeds. Crushing seeds releases bitter tannins and harsh flavours into the liquid, and pressing gently keeps the strained ice smooth and clean-tasting.
“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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