Name: Spiced Grapes
Ingredients: 8 quarts seeded grapes; 2 ounces ground cloves; 2 ounces ground cinnamon; 3½ pounds sugar

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 ↓

Spiced Grapes

Ingredients

8 quarts seeded grapes
2 ounces ground cloves
2 ounces ground cinnamon
3½ pounds sugar

Directions

Combine the seeded grapes, ground cloves, ground cinnamon, and sugar in a large pot.
Boil the mixture for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

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.

Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,189 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Grape + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,164 recipes

Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).
Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together30,779 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Grape + clovetop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,675 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Grape + sugartop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together7,490 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

What each ingredient does

Grapes: Provide the bulk and natural pectin and acid that give the cooked fruit its body.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps thicken the mixture as the liquid reduces.