Why it works: Cider and apple are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,238 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓
Apple Butter
Ingredients
Directions
Start the cooking
Boil down 3 gallons of cider in a large pot.
Add the quartered apples to the boiling cider.
Boil rapidly for 2 hours, stirring to prevent the apples from sinking and burning.
Once the apples start to sink, stir constantly.
After 30 to 40 minutes, add sugar and spices to taste.
Continue stirring until the mixture is a thick, smooth pulp.
Store
Transfer to crocks and cover the tops with cotton batting.
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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Cider + appletop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,238 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16,478 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Cider + sugartop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,308 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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
- Cider
- Its liquid reduces by boiling, concentrating the flavor and sugars into a rich base.
- Apples
- As they break down, they form the thick, smooth pulp that gives the butter its body.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and deepens the caramel-like flavor as the mixture cooks down.
The step that matters
Stir constantly once the apples start to sink. As the liquid evaporates, the sugars and pulp concentrate and stick to the bottom of the pot. Constant stirring prevents scorching, which would leave a burnt taste throughout the butter.
“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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