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Grape-citron Preserves

Preserves made from citrons and grape marmalade, cooked until clear and brightly colored.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and grape are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 23% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,490 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Grape-citron Preserves

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the citron

  1. Pare the citrons and cut them into small cubes.

  2. Steam the citrons over hot water until tender, then drain and weigh them.

Make the grape marmalade

  1. Fill a basin with Concord grapes and cook them in their own juice until the seeds and skins are free from pulp.

  2. Pass the cooked grapes through a fine sieve or fruit squeezer to make grape marmalade.

Cook and colour the preserves

  1. For every pound of fruit, add a pound of granulated sugar to a pot and place over low heat.

  2. Add enough grape marmalade to the citron to achieve a bright red or purple color.

  3. Cook slowly until the citron is clear and has a bright, even color.

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.

  1. Sugar + grapetop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,490 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Citrons
Form the body of the preserve and become tender and clear as they cook.
Granulated sugar
Sweetens the preserve and helps it set into a thick, glossy texture.
Concord grapes
Supply juice and pectin-rich pulp that give the preserve its colour and body.

The step that matters

Cook slowly until the citron is clear. Sugar and fruit need gentle, steady heat so the citron turns clear and tender without scorching or breaking down, and the sugar can dissolve and thicken the syrup evenly.

“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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