Name: Preserved Green Apricots
Ingredients: green apricots (the size of a large nutmeg); water; syrup

Why it works: Apricot and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 207 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Preserved Green Apricots

Ingredients

green apricots (the size of a large nutmeg)
water
syrup

Directions

Place the green apricots in a preserving pan and cover with water.
Simmer gently over low heat until the apricots are tender.
Transfer the apricots to cold water.
The next day, drain the apricots using a coarse sieve.
Add syrup to the apricots and finish preserving as directed for preserved green gages.

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.

Apricot + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together207 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Apricot + syruptop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Nutmeg + syruptop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together523 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).