Why it works: Grape and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 23% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,490 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Grape Juice
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare and extract
Remove stems from Concord grapes and wash them thoroughly in a colander.
Cover grapes with cold water and boil until tender.
Press the juice through a wire sieve.
Sweeten and bottle
Add 1 cup of sugar for every 3 quarts of juice and heat just until it boils.
Bottle the hot juice immediately.
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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Grape + sugartop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,490 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Concord grapes
- Provide the main juice, along with the fruit's characteristic flavour and colour.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness that balances the grapes' tartness.
The step that matters
Heat the sugared juice just until it boils. Sugar dissolves fully once the juice is hot. Boiling for longer evaporates water and concentrates the juice, which can dull its fresh grape flavour and make it overly sweet.
“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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