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Pennsylvania Apple Butter

A sweet spread made by cooking apples with cider and allspice until thick.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 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 ↓

Pennsylvania Apple Butter

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Pare, core, and quarter the apples.

Make the butter

  1. Boil down the cider to half its original quantity.

  2. Add the apples to the reduced cider.

  3. Continue boiling while stirring constantly until thick.

Finish

  1. Let cool and transfer to jars.

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 + allspicetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together998 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  3. Cider + allspicetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together873 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Apples
Provide the bulk and pectin that thicken the butter and add natural sweetness.
New cider
Supplies the liquid that reduces into a concentrated, tangy base for the butter.
Ground allspice
Adds warm, aromatic spice flavor to the finished butter.

The step that matters

Continue boiling while stirring constantly until thick. As the mixture reduces, its sugars concentrate and can scorch on the bottom of the pan. Constant stirring prevents sticking and burning, and the butter thickens as water evaporates.

Swap the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, cider):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Clovefits better
  3. Allspicethe original
  4. Gingerfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against apple, cider. 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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