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To Preserve Oranges in Jelly

A method of preserving oranges by cooking them in a sugar syrup and jelly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

To Preserve Oranges in Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut a hole in the stem end of the oranges and scoop out the pulp.

  2. Soak the oranges in spring water for two days, changing the water twice daily.

  3. Boil the oranges in a covered pot on low heat until tender, adding hot water as needed.

  4. Prepare green pippins by peeling and coring them, then boil until the water is strong with apple flavor.

Make the syrup

  1. For every pound of oranges, combine two pounds of sugar and one pint of water in a pot.

  2. Add the juice of the oranges to the sugar-water mixture and boil, skimming off any foam.

  3. Let the syrup cool, then add the oranges and simmer for half an hour.

  4. If the oranges are not clear, boil them once a day for two to three days.

  5. Strain the apple water through a jelly bag until clear, then add one pound of sugar and the juice of a lemon.

  6. Boil the mixture until strong, then drain the oranges and place them in jars.

Set and seal

  1. Pour the jelly over the oranges, cover with brandy papers, and seal tightly.

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. Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Orange + sugartop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,212 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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

Seville oranges
Supply the main fruit, bitter peel flavor, and natural pectin that helps the jelly set.
Double refined sugar
Sweetens and preserves the fruit while helping the syrup thicken into a jelly.
Green pippins
Their apple water adds extra pectin, helping the jelly set firmly.
Juice of 1 lemon
Adds acidity, which supports pectin setting and brightens the flavor.

The step that matters

Boil the jelly until strong. The jelly sets only when enough sugar, pectin and acid are concentrated by boiling. Stopping too early leaves a runny syrup that will not hold the oranges in shape.

“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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