Why it works: Apricot and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,630 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
To Make Apricot Paste
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Pare and stone the apricots.
Boil them in water until they mash easily.
Make the paste
In a preserving pan, combine the sugar with enough water to dissolve it and boil until it reaches a syrup consistency.
Remove from heat and add the apricots, letting it sit until the sugar melts.
Heat the mixture until scalding hot, but do not let it boil.
Set and dry
Pour into china dishes or cups and place in a warm oven until they are firm enough to turn out.
Transfer to glass plates and turn them occasionally until dry.
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 + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,630 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Apricots
- Provide the fruit body and flavour that cooks down into a thick, spreadable paste.
- Double refined sugar
- Adds sweetness and, once concentrated, helps the paste set firm and keep its shape.
The step that matters
Heat until scalding but do not boil. Boiling the mixture after the apricots are added can scorch the sugar and fruit, darkening the paste and giving it a burnt taste. Gentle heat lets the sugar dissolve fully and keeps the flavour clean.
“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 Cream26 recipes
Mixed Fruit Sherbet6 recipes
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.