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Dessert

Apple Butter Without Cider

A thick, sweet apple preserve made by boiling apples, molasses, and spices for many hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Apple Butter Without Cider

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. Mix 10 gallons of water with 6 gallons of molasses in a large kettle and bring to a hard boil, skimming off any scum.

  2. Remove half the liquid and set it aside in a tub.

Cook the apples

  1. Gradually add the quartered apples to the boiling liquid and let it boil hard.

  2. As it thickens, slowly stir in the reserved liquid from the tub.

  3. Stir frequently to prevent scorching and boil for 10 to 12 hours.

  4. At night, transfer the mixture to tubs to cool and cover it carefully.

  5. The next morning, boil the apple butter for an additional 6 to 8 hours, totaling 18 hours.

  6. Half an hour before finishing, stir in the mixed spices.

Store

  1. Once done, store the apple butter in stone or earthen 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. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Allspice + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Allspice + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Apples
Break down into a thick, spreadable pulp as they cook for hours.
Molasses
Adds dark color, deep sweetness and a rich, caramel-like flavor.
Mixed spices
Provide warm aroma and flavor added near the end of cooking.

The step that matters

Stirring frequently while boiling. Sugars in the molasses and apples can scorch on the bottom of the kettle during long boiling, giving a burnt taste. Frequent stirring spreads heat and keeps the mixture from sticking.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, clove, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg):

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Orangefits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, clove, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg. 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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