Why it works: Quince and pear match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 133 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓
Manner of Making Confection of Grapes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the grapes
Gather ripe grapes in dry weather and leave them in bunches for a few days until they soften.
Pick the grapes and squeeze out the juice.
Make the confection
Boil the juice gently while stirring with a wooden stick.
Reduce the heat as the liquid evaporates, simmering until it is reduced by three-quarters.
If using fruits, scald them in boiling water until soft.
Drain the scalded fruits and add them to the grape mixture when it is half boiled down.
Continue boiling and stirring until the confection is sufficiently thick.
To test, place a little on a napkin; if it sets quickly, remove from heat.
Once it reaches the right consistency, pour it into pots.
Arrange fruits in pots and pour the confection over them.
Set and cover
Let the pots sit uncovered in a lukewarm oven overnight.
Dip round pieces of paper in brandy and place them on the confection.
Cover the confection with another paper and tie it down.
Place in a warm oven for 8 to 10 hours.
Cover as before.
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.
-
Quince + peartop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together133 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
-
Grape + peartop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together252 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
-
Grape + orangetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,771 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
-
Grape + quincetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together96 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
-
Pear + orangetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together323 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Ripe grapes
- Provide the sugar, pectin and flavour that form the body of the confection.
- Brandy
- Adds aroma and helps preserve the surface of the confection when used on the paper covers.
The step that matters
Testing the thickness. Boiling must continue until the mixture is thick enough to set. Stopping too early leaves a runny confection, while over-boiling makes it hard and sticky once cooled, so the napkin test is the check to rely on.
Swap the quince
The recipe marks quince as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (grape, brandy, pear, orange):
- Applefits better
- Apricotfits better
- Plumfits better
- Quincethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against grape, brandy, pear, orange. 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.
You might also like
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Quince Jelly131 recipes
Orange Cream Rice Pudding121 recipes
Orange Gelatin100 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.