Skip to main content
Dessert

Ripe Apricots , Wet*

Apricots boiled in syrup reduced to feather or pearl stages.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Apricot and syrup work together. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 451 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Ripe Apricots , Wet*

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the apricots

  1. Cut a small slit near the stem of each apricot and remove the stone.

  2. Blanch the apricots in boiling water, being careful not to break them.

  3. Remove the apricots as they float to the surface and transfer them to cold water.

  4. Drain the apricots on a sieve.

Syrup and cook

  1. Boil the syrup until it reaches a feather stage.

  2. Gently add the apricots to the syrup.

  3. Boil the apricots a few times, skimming the surface.

  4. Transfer the apricots to an earthen pan.

  5. The next day, drain the syrup from the apricots and add fresh syrup.

  6. Boil and skim the syrup until it reaches a small pearl stage.

  7. Add the apricots back into the syrup.

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Apricots
Provide the fruit that is cooked and preserved, with flesh that softens in the syrup.
Syrup
Sweetens the fruit and, when boiled to a set stage, thickens and preserves it.

The step that matters

Blanching the apricots. Boiling water can split the soft skin and flesh if the fruit is handled roughly or left too long. Gentle handling keeps the apricots whole, and removing them as they float prevents overcooking.

“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 Ice CreamApricot Ice Cream26 recipesOranges in SyrupOranges in Syrup9 recipesMixed Fruit SherbetMixed Fruit Sherbet6 recipesSyrup SauceSyrup Sauce6 recipes