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Grape Catsup

A sweet and spicy grape preserve made by boiling grapes with sugar, spices, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,536 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Grape Catsup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash and stem the grapes.

  2. Heat the grapes very slowly until soft.

  3. Put the softened grapes through a sieve.

Make the ketchup

  1. Return the strained mixture to the kettle and add the remaining ingredients.

  2. Boil for 1 hour.

  3. Bottle the mixture while hot.

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. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Grape + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,164 recipes

    Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).

  4. Pepper + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,890 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  5. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Sugar and cinnamon 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 main body, pulp and fruity flavor of the sauce.
Sugar
Sweetens the sauce and, as it cooks down, helps it thicken.
Vinegar
Adds acidity and tang that balances the sweetness.
Black pepper
Adds a sharp, warm aroma and mild bite.
Cinnamon
Adds warm, sweet aroma to the sauce.
Allspice
Adds a warm, clove-like aroma to the sauce.

The step that matters

Boil for 1 hour. Boiling drives off water and concentrates the sugar and fruit pulp, which thickens the ketchup. Stopping early leaves it thin and watery, while overheating can scorch the sugar on the bottom of the kettle, so stir it regularly.

Swap the grape

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, sugar, cinnamon, vinegar, allspice):

  1. Limefits better
  2. Lemonfits better
  3. Orangefits better
  4. Grapethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, sugar, cinnamon, vinegar, allspice. 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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