Why it works: Apple and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,478 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Mint Apple Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the jelly using the usual method with Greening apples.
For mint juice, wash 1 cup of mint leaves and steep in 1 cup of hot water for 1 hour.
Strain the mint mixture through cheesecloth.
Add 1 tablespoon of the mint juice to each cup of strained apple juice before adding sugar.
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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Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16,478 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Apple + minttop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together203 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Mint + sugartop 32% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,592 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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
Swap the mint
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, sugar):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Gingerfits better
- Clovefits better
- Mintthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against apple, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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