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Dessert

Apple Ginger

A syrup of apples and ginger made by simmering apples in sugar water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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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 ↓

Apple Ginger

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. Dissolve the sugar in the water to make a syrup.

  2. Bring the mixture slowly to a boil, skim well, and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes.

Cook the apples

  1. Peel, core, and cut each apple into 8 sections.

  2. Add the apple sections and extract of ginger to the syrup.

  3. Simmer gently until the apples are soft but not broken.

Jar and store

  1. Turn the mixture into jars, cover with prepared paper or paper brushed with egg white, and fasten securely.

  2. Store in a cool, dry place.

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

Sour cooking apples
Provide the fruit body and tartness that the sweet syrup balances.
Loaf sugar
Dissolves into the water to form the syrup and sweetens the preserve.
Extract of ginger
Adds a warm, spicy aroma and flavor throughout the syrup.

The step that matters

Simmer gently until the apples are soft but not broken. Vigorous boiling breaks down apple pectin and cell structure, turning the pieces mushy. Gentle simmering softens the flesh while the sections keep their shape.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, ginger):

  1. Lemonfits better
  2. Orangefits better
  3. Limefits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, ginger. 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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