Why it works: Sugar and orange are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,212 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Jujube Paste
Ingredients
Directions
Make the gum base
Dissolve the gum Senegal in enough orange flower water to leave a sediment.
Place the mixture over low heat and stir continuously to reduce it.
Add the sugar
Clarify the sugar.
Boil the clarified sugar until it reaches a bloom.
Add the boiled sugar to the paste and mix well.
Return the mixture to a very low heat.
Dry and shape
Dry it to a good consistency.
Pour the paste into tin molds about ¼ inch thick.
Place the molds in a stove.
Once dry, remove the paste from the molds.
Cut it into small pieces or desired shapes.
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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Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar and orange barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,212 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Gum senegal
- Forms the gel-like body of the paste and holds its shape as it dries.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and, once boiled, helps the paste set firm and hold together.
The step that matters
Return the mixture to a very low heat. Gum-based pastes can scorch or turn grainy if heated too hard after the sugar is added. Gentle heat keeps the mixture smooth while it thickens and dries.
“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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