Name: Apricots
Ingredients: Under-ripe apricots; Warm water; Sugar; Syrup (25-degree, 27-degree, 31-degree, 33-degree, 36-degree)

Why it works: Sugar and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Apricots

Ingredients

Under-ripe apricots
Warm water
Sugar
Syrup (25-degree, 27-degree, 31-degree, 33-degree, 36-degree)

Directions

Remove the seed from the apricots using a pitting spoon.
Place the apricots in warm water and gradually heat to near boiling.
As the apricots float to the top, transfer them to jars.
Pour 25-degree syrup over the apricots and let them drain after 24 hours.
Reboil the syrup and add enough sugar to return it to 25 degrees.
Pour the syrup over the fruit and repeat daily until reaching 27 degrees.
Then, repeat every two days until reaching 31 degrees.
Next, repeat every three days until reaching 33 degrees.
Finally, repeat every four days until reaching 36 degrees.
Allow the apricots to remain in syrup for 6 days, then wash in 30-degree syrup.
Place the apricots on trays and put them in a drying room.

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.

Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,842 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Apricot + syruptop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Apricot + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,630 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).