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Dessert

Apple Paste

Apple paste is a preserved apple mixture made with apples, sugar, marmalade, ginger, spirits, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and ginger are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,424 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Apple Paste

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the apples

  1. Pare and cut the apples into pieces.

  2. Weigh the apples and use an equal amount of white sugar.

  3. Place the apples in a jar and boil until soft.

Make the syrup and paste

  1. Boil the sugar with water to make a syrup.

  2. Add the apples, marmalade, and grated ginger to the syrup and let simmer for 10 minutes.

Mold and set

  1. Wet your molds with spirits and pour in the mixture.

  2. Let the mixture cool and set.

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. Apple + gingertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,424 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Apple + spirittop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together31 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

  3. Ginger + spirittop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together88 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Sugar + gingertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together14,054 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  5. Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together16,478 recipes

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

Sugar and ginger barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 14,054 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

Apples
Provide the main body and pectin that lets the paste firm up as it cools.
White sugar
Adds sweetness and, once boiled down, helps the paste set firm and hold its shape.
Marmalade
Adds extra sweetness, acidity and pectin to support the set.
Grated ginger
Adds a warm, aromatic flavour that contrasts with the sweetness.

The step that matters

Simmering the apples with the syrup. Sugar and fruit must cook long enough for the mixture to thicken, since pectin and sugar concentration together cause the paste to set. Undercooking leaves it soft and sticky, while overcooking can make it stiff or caramelised.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, ginger, spirit):

  1. Orangefits better
  2. Vanillafits about as well
  3. Limefits about as well
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, ginger, spirit. 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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