Why it works: Orange and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,212 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Orange Marmalade
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Grate the yellow rind of the oranges.
Cut the oranges into quarters and remove the pulp from the white peel using a small, sharp knife.
Remove the seeds and bits of white membrane, collecting the juice in a bowl.
Drain the pulp in a sieve over a bowl to catch all the juice.
Cook the marmalade
Combine the juice and pulp, using 1 pint of sugar for every pint of juice.
Boil the mixture and skim off any foam.
Add the grated rind and cook for 30 minutes until thick and jelly-like.
Jar
Pour into tumblers or jars and cover with brandied paper.
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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Orange + sugartop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Orange and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,212 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
- Oranges
- Provide the bitter peel, pulp and juice that give marmalade its flavour and set.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the marmalade and, as it thickens, helps it set into a jelly.
The step that matters
Cooking until thick and jelly-like. Marmalade sets when enough sugar and natural pectin from the pulp and peel are concentrated by boiling. Undercooking leaves it runny, while overcooking can make it stiff or caramelised.
“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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