Name: Barberry Preserve
Ingredients: 1 pound barberries; 4 sweet apples, peeled and sliced; 1 pint sugar; 3 cups molasses

Why it works: Sugar and molasses are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Barberry Preserve

Ingredients

1 pound barberries
4 sweet apples, peeled and sliced
1 pint sugar
3 cups molasses

Directions

In a pot, combine barberries, sliced apples, sugar, and molasses.
Simmer for 30 minutes or until the berries and apples are soft.

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.

Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,225 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together16,478 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Apple + molassestop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together970 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, 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

Barberries: Provide the tart fruit flavour and the bulk of the preserve.
Sweet apples: Add pectin and body, helping the preserve thicken as it softens.
Sugar: Sweetens and helps preserve the fruit by binding up water.
Molasses: Adds dark sweetness and a deep, rich flavour.