Name: Apple Vinegar
Ingredients: apple parings and cores; cold water; 1 pint molasses; 3 to 4 gallons cold tea

Why it works: Apple and tea work together. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 150 recipes. Both carry 4-heptenal, which smells creamy, biscuit. The science ↓

Apple Vinegar

Ingredients

apple parings and cores
cold water
1 pint molasses
3 to 4 gallons cold tea

Directions

Save all apple parings and cores from cooking.
Place them in a jar and cover with cold water.
Add 1 pint of molasses for every 3 to 4 gallons of water.
Cover the jar with mosquito netting.
Continue to add more apple parings and any leftover cold tea.

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.

Apple + teatop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together150 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
Apple + molassestop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together970 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Molasses + teatop 31% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together139 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).