Name: To Preserve Cider Sweet
Ingredients: 1 barrel of cider; 1 pound of mustard seed; 2 pounds of raisins; ¼ pound of stick cinnamon

Why it works: Raisin and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,390 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

To Preserve Cider Sweet

Ingredients

1 barrel of cider
1 pound of mustard seed
2 pounds of raisins
¼ pound of stick cinnamon

Directions

Combine cider, mustard seed, raisins, and stick cinnamon in a large barrel. Stir well to ensure all ingredients are mixed thoroughly.

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.

Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,390 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Mustard + cinnamontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,581 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Cider + mustardtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,414 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Mustard + raisintop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together146 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
Cider + cinnamontop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,497 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

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

What each ingredient does

Cider: Provides the liquid base and mild acidity that carries the other flavors.
Mustard seed: Adds a sharp, pungent bite that balances the sweetness of the raisins.
Raisins: Contribute sweetness and body as they soften and release their sugars into the liquid.
Stick cinnamon: Infuses the preserve with warm, aromatic spice flavor.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cider, raisin, cinnamon):

Sweet potatofits better
Arrowrootfits about as well
Mustardthe original
Shallotfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against cider, raisin, cinnamon. 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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To Preserve Cider Sweet