Why it works: Clove and cinnamon 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, German
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Peel and weigh the crab apples.
In a large pot, combine the apples, brown sugar, allspice, cloves, cinnamon, and enough cider vinegar to cover the apples.
Cook or steep
Either scald the vinegar and sugar, pour it hot over the fruit and spices, and let it stand for 24 hours, or cook everything together slowly until the apples are soft but not falling apart.
Add the spices about 5-6 minutes before the apples are done.
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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Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,874 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Allspice + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,536 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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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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Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,598 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Crab apples
- Provide the fruit that softens and absorbs the sweet, spiced vinegar.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and body to the syrup and balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
- Cider vinegar
- Provides acidity that preserves the fruit and gives the pickle its tang.
- Cloves
- Contribute warm, pungent aroma to the syrup.
- Cinnamon
- Adds warm, sweet aroma to the syrup.
The step that matters
Adding the spices near the end. Whole and ground spices release their aroma quickly with heat, so adding them only 5-6 minutes before the apples finish keeps the flavor bright instead of cooking it away into a dull, bitter taste.
Swap the mace
The recipe marks mace as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (crab, apple, sugar, allspice, clove, cinnamon, cider):
- Nutmegfits better
- Gingerfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against crab, apple, sugar, allspice, clove, cinnamon, cider. 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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