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Dessert

Syrup of Almonds— Sirop De Orgeat

A sweet almond syrup made by blending blanched almonds, water, sugar, and orange‑flower water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and orange are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,125 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Syrup of Almonds— Sirop De Orgeat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the almonds

  1. Blanch the almonds.

  2. Place the blanched almonds in cold water.

  3. Pound the almonds in a marble mortar.

  4. Add a little orange-flower water to prevent oiling.

  5. Continue to pound until a paste forms.

  6. Add more water as needed to achieve a fine consistency.

  7. Add ½ cup more water and mix the mixture.

Extract the almond milk

  1. Strain through a fine cloth to collect the almond milk.

  2. Repeat the straining process with the remaining almond pulp and water until all milk is extracted.

  3. Clarify the mixture.

Make the syrup

  1. Boil the sugar until it reaches the crack stage.

  2. Add the almond milk to the sugar.

  3. Reduce the mixture to a pearl consistency.

  4. Strain again.

  5. Add the orange-flower water.

  6. Stir until nearly cold.

Bottle and rest

  1. Bottle the syrup.

  2. Shake well for several days.

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. Almond + orangetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,125 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  3. Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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

Sweet almonds
Provide the main almond milk, supplying body, fat and mild flavor to the syrup.
Bitter almonds
Add a deeper, aromatic almond flavor that sweet almonds alone lack.
Sugar
Provides sweetness and, once boiled, the thick body that makes the syrup pourable and syrupy.
Orange-flower water
Adds a floral aroma and helps keep the almond fat from separating out as oil.

The step that matters

Reduce the mixture to a pearl consistency. Sugar syrup thickens as water boils off. Stopping at the right point gives a syrup that coats the spoon without turning sticky or crystallizing as it cools.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (almond, sugar):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against almond, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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