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Dessert

Apple Jam

A sweet preserve made from apple pulp, sugar, and lemon rind.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,501 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Apple Jam

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pulp

  1. Weigh the apple pulp after extracting the juice.

  2. Rub the pulp through a fine sieve.

Cook the jam

  1. Combine the pulp, sugar, and lemon rind in a pot.

  2. Boil gently until the jam sets when tested on a plate.

  3. Optionally, add vanilla for flavor instead of lemon.

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 + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,501 recipes

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

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  3. Apple + lemontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,551 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Lemon + vanillatop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,961 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

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

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Apple pulp
Provides the fruit base and pectin that helps the jam thicken and set.
Sugar
Sweetens the jam and, with boiling, helps it thicken and set.

The step that matters

Boil gently until the jam sets. Jam sets when enough pectin, sugar and acid reach a gel point during boiling. Stopping too early leaves it runny, while overcooking can make it stiff and dull in flavor. Testing on a cold plate shows when it is ready.

Swap the vanilla

The recipe marks vanilla as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, sugar, lemon):

  1. Orangefits better
  2. Pearfits better
  3. Quincefits about as well
  4. Vanillathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against apple, sugar, lemon. 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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