Why it works: Apricot and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,630 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Green Apricot Paste
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the pulp
Scald the unripe apricots and pass the pulp through a sieve.
Reduce the pulp until thick.
Make the paste
For each pound of reduced pulp, add 1 pound of clarified loaf sugar.
Boil the mixture until it reaches a thick consistency.
Spread the paste into molds or on small plates and let it dry in the stove.
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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Apricot + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Unripe apricots
- Provide the pulp that forms the body and fruit flavor of the paste.
- Loaf sugar
- Sweetens the paste and, as it thickens, helps it set firm when dried.
The step that matters
Boil the mixture until it reaches a thick consistency. Sugar and fruit pulp must be cooked far enough to concentrate and thicken; undercooked paste stays soft and sticky and will not set firm when dried.
“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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