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Crystalized and Glaze Apricots

A method of preserving apricots by crystallizing them in syrup with alum and sulphite of soda.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Syrup and sugar 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 ↓

Crystalized and Glaze Apricots

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fruit

  1. Pit the apricots.

  2. Bleach the apricots in a sulfur closet overnight.

  3. Wash the apricots thoroughly in cold running water or in a bucket of water with ½ ounce of alum per 12 gallons.

  4. Prick the apricots with copper needles.

Blanch and cool

  1. Place the apricots in medium hot water.

  2. Gradually heat the water. Let the apricots rise to the surface as the water boils.

  3. Remove the apricots one by one with a skimmer.

  4. Place the apricots in cold water with ½ ounce of alum per 12 gallons.

  5. Strain the water.

Syrup and storage

  1. Place the apricots in earthenware jars.

  2. Cover the apricots with hot syrup (25° Beaume) mixed with 1 ounce of sulphite of soda per 6 gallons of syrup.

  3. After 24 hours, drain the syrup.

  4. Reboil the syrup, adding sugar to reach 25°. Pour the boiling syrup over the fruit.

  5. Repeat this process every two days until the syrup reaches 28°, then every three days until it reaches 33°.

  6. Check that the apricots are clear, transparent, and of even color before storing them in stone 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. Syrup + sugartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Apricot + syruptop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Apricot + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,630 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Apricots
Form the fruit that becomes clear, firm and candied through repeated syrup soaking.
Syrup
Sugar concentration draws water out of the fruit and sweetens it, preserving it as the strength rises.
Sugar
Raises the syrup's concentration to the target degree, adding sweetness and helping preserve the fruit.
Alum
Firms the fruit's tissue so it holds its shape during soaking and heating.
Sulphite of soda
Preserves the fruit and helps keep its light color in the syrup.

The step that matters

Raising the syrup strength gradually. Moving too quickly to a dense syrup can shrink and toughen the fruit. Adding sugar in stages, with repeated boiling and draining, lets the fruit take up sugar slowly so it stays clear and tender.

Swap the apricot

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Pearfits about as well
  4. Apricotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against syrup, sugar. 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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