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Preserve

Ckab Apple Preserves

Whole Siberian crab apples cooked and preserved in a syrup of sugar, cider, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and cider are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,238 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Ckab Apple Preserves

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. Boil the sugar, cider, and water for 10 minutes.

Cook the apples

  1. Add the crab apples and simmer until done.

Pack and seal

  1. Carefully place the apples into jars or glasses.

  2. Reduce the syrup until thick.

  3. Pour the syrup over the apples while hot.

  4. Cover the jars well.

  5. Store in a dry place.

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 + cidertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,238 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

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

  3. Crab + sugartop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together407 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (grass, green).

  4. Crab + appletop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together343 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  5. Sugar + cidertop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,308 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Apple and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 16,478 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

Siberian crab apples
Provide the fruit that gives the preserves their body and tart flavor.
Loaf sugar
Sweetens the preserves and, at high concentration, helps preserve the fruit.
Sweet cider
Adds fruity flavor to the syrup.

The step that matters

Reduce the syrup until thick. Sugar concentration is what keeps preserves stable. If the syrup is too thin, the fruit can spoil sooner, so it should be reduced until it is noticeably thick before pouring.

“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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