Why it works: Grape and sugar 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 Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Pick grapes that are not very ripe and discard any that are damaged.
Wash the grapes and place them in a cooking pan.
Layer the grapes with sugar, starting with a layer of sugar.
Cook
Boil over moderate heat, stirring constantly to prevent burning.
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.
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Grape + sugartop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Grapes
- Supply the fruit, flavor and body that make up the jam.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the fruit and draws water out of it, helping the jam thicken and keep.
The step that matters
Stirring constantly while boiling. Sugar and fruit concentrate on the bottom of the pan as water evaporates, and they scorch easily over heat. Constant stirring spreads the heat evenly and keeps the jam from burning.
“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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