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 ↓
Apple Butter
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Pare and quarter the apples and quinces.
Cook the fruit
Cook the quinces in water until soft, then mash through a colander.
Boil and skim the cider until no froth gathers, then remove part of it.
Leave enough cider in the kettle to cook the apples until soft.
Add the mashed quinces to the soft apples.
Gradually pour in the remaining cider as the mixture cooks.
Finish
When the butter reaches the desired thickness, add sugar to taste.
Continue cooking until the butter thickens again after adding sugar.
Just before removing from heat, add cinnamon and cloves to taste.
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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Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Apple + quincetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together506 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
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Apple + cidertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,238 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Quince + clovetop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together164 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Quince + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together199 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Apples
- Form the bulk of the butter and supply natural sweetness and body as they soften.
- Quinces
- Add pectin, which helps the butter thicken and set, along with a fragrant flavour.
- Cider
- Provides liquid that cooks down slowly, concentrating flavour and sweetness into the butter.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the tartness of the fruit.
- Cinnamon
- Adds warm aromatic flavour to the finished butter.
- Cloves
- Adds warm, pungent aroma to the finished butter.
The step that matters
Cooking after adding sugar. Sugar-rich fruit mixtures scorch easily on the bottom of the kettle, so stir often. The butter must cook until it thickens again, since added sugar and liquid loosen it.
Swap the quince
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, cider, sugar, cinnamon, clove):
- Pearfits about as well
- Quincethe original
- Vanillafits about as well
- Figfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against apple, cider, sugar, cinnamon, clove. 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.
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