Skip to main content

Siberian Crab Apples, to Preserve Whole

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Siberian Crab Apples, to Preserve Whole

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Gather Siberian crab apples before they are fully ripe.

  2. Fill jars with the apples to determine quantity.

  3. Scald the apples in boiling water until the skins begin to crack.

  4. Remove from heat and pour into a colander.

  5. Peel the apples as the skins will come off easily.

  6. Make a thin syrup with sugar and water.

  7. Place the apples in jars and pour the hot syrup over them.

  8. Push down the apples to ensure they are covered in syrup.

  9. Leave the jars uncovered overnight.

  10. The next day, pour the apples into a colander and return the syrup to the saucepan with more sugar.

  11. Boil and skim the syrup until thick.

  12. Pour the hot syrup back over the apples in the jars.

  13. Keep the jars open and check the next day for softness and syrup thickness.

  14. If ready, cover the jars with bladder or cloth.

  15. Check for mold or fermentation after a week and reboil syrup if necessary.

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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,598 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  3. Apple + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,774 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together16,478 recipes

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

Cinnamon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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

Swap the apple

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

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Quincefits about as well
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against crab, cinnamon, clove, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

You might also like

Apple PuddingApple Pudding256 recipesApple CakeApple Cake80 recipesApple MeringueApple Meringue75 recipesCinnamon RollsCinnamon Rolls71 recipes