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 ↓
Apricot Jam.
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the pulp
Pass the apricots through a fine sieve to create pulp.
Cook the jam
Combine the pulp with 1 pound of sugar in a pot.
Cook over medium heat, stirring well as it boils for 20 minutes.
Remove from heat and add the apricot kernels.
Pot and seal
Pour the jam into pots and let it cool.
Once cool, cover the pots with brandy paper and bladder.
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
- Apricots
- Provide the fruit pulp that forms the body and main flavour of the jam.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jam and, while boiling, helps thicken it and preserve it.
- Apricot kernels
- Add a subtle almond-like aroma when stirred in off the heat.
The step that matters
Cooking the pulp with sugar. Stir constantly while it boils so the sugar dissolves evenly and the fruit does not scorch on the bottom of the pot. Scorching gives a burnt taste that the jam cannot lose.
“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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