Skip to main content
Dessert

Pine-apple Preserves

A sweet preserve made by layering sliced apples with sugar, simmering the syrup, and refrigerating.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Apple and ginger are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,424 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Pine-apple Preserves

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Pare and slice the apples.

  2. Weigh the apples and use an equal amount of sugar.

  3. Layer the apple slices in a jar, covering each layer with sugar until all are used.

  4. Let the mixture stand overnight.

Cook the syrup

  1. Remove the apples from the syrup.

  2. Cook the syrup until it thickens.

  3. Replace the apples in the syrup.

  4. Boil for 15 minutes.

  5. Remove the apples from the syrup.

Cool and jar

  1. Let them cool.

  2. Pack the apples into jars.

  3. Pour the syrup over them.

  4. Optionally, add a few pieces of ginger-root to the syrup while cooking.

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 + gingertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,424 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Sugar + gingertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together14,054 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

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

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

Sugar and ginger barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 14,054 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

Apples
Provide the fruit body and pectin that help the preserve set as it cooks.
Sugar
Draws water out of the fruit and thickens the syrup, helping preserve the apples.

The step that matters

Cooking the syrup until it thickens. As water evaporates, the sugar concentration rises and the syrup thickens. Removing the apples during this stage keeps them from breaking down into mush while the syrup reduces.

Swap the ginger

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Gingerthe original
  3. Clovefits about as well
  4. Nutmegfits less well

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

More apple preserves recipes

Crab 22 See all 37 →

You might also like

Apple PuddingApple Pudding256 recipesGinger CookiesGinger Cookies213 recipesGinger CakeGinger Cake93 recipesSoft Ginger BreadSoft Ginger Bread85 recipes