Skip to main content
Main

Apricot Chutney

A sweet and spicy chutney made with raisins, apricots, onions, spices, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Coriander and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,505 recipes. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓

Apricot Chutney

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Seed the raisins, apricots, and onions, then grind them using a meat grinder.

Cook

  1. In a pot, combine the ground mixture with spices and vinegar.

  2. Cook slowly for 1.5 to 2 hours, stirring often.

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. Coriander + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,505 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  2. Coriander + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,949 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Apricot + gingertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together341 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Ginger + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,800 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Onion + gingertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,595 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Apricots
Provide fruit body, sweetness, and tangy flavor that thickens as the chutney cooks.
Raisins
Add concentrated sweetness and chewy texture to the finished chutney.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that balances sweetness and helps preserve the chutney.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and, as it cooks down, helps thicken the chutney.
Onions
Contribute savory body and moisture that breaks down into the chutney.

The step that matters

Cook slowly for 1.5 to 2 hours, stirring often. Long, gentle cooking lets water evaporate so the mixture thickens. Frequent stirring prevents the sugars and fruit from scorching on the bottom of the pot.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, onion, coriander, apricot, ginger, vinegar, pepper):

  1. Limefits better
  2. Mangofits better
  3. Lemonfits better
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, onion, coriander, apricot, ginger, vinegar, pepper. 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.

You might also like

Apricot SauceApricot Sauce37 recipesTomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesMutton BrothMutton Broth292 recipes