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Qrape Catsup

A sweet and spicy grape-based ketchup made with fruit, sugar, spices, and cider vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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 ↓

Qrape Catsup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash and stew the fruit over a slow fire until soft.

  2. Strain the mixture through a sieve.

Make the ketchup

  1. Add sugar, cinnamon, allspice, black pepper, salt, and cider vinegar.

  2. Boil until slightly thickened.

  3. Bottle the mixture.

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. Allspice + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,431 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  4. Cinnamon + peppertop 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

Fruit
Provides the main body and flavor base once stewed and strained.
Granulated sugar
Adds sweetness and helps thicken the ketchup as it boils down.
Cider vinegar
Adds acidity that balances the sweetness and helps preserve the ketchup.

The step that matters

Boil until slightly thickened. Sugar and fruit solids thicken as water evaporates, but overboiling can make the ketchup too stiff once it cools. Stop when it just coats a spoon, since it firms further as it cools.

Swap the cinnamon

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

  1. Clovefits about as well
  2. Cinnamonthe original
  3. Thymefits less well
  4. Nutmegfits less well

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