Why it works: Orange and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,212 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Preserved Oranges
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the oranges
Grate the oranges lightly.
Score them with a knife without cutting too deep.
Soak the oranges in cold water for 3 days, changing the water 2-3 times daily.
Tie the oranges in a cloth and boil them until a pin can easily penetrate the skin.
Make the syrup
In a pot, combine the sugar with ½ pint of water for each pound of sugar and bring to a boil for 1-2 minutes.
Strain the syrup through muslin.
Preserve and finish
Add the oranges until the syrup jellies and turns yellow.
Test the syrup by cooling a small amount; it should not be too stiff.
Turn the oranges in the syrup to ensure even coating.
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.
-
Orange + sugartop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Orange and sugar 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
- Oranges
- Provide the fruit and peel that are cooked and set in the sugar syrup.
- White sugar
- Forms the sweet syrup that preserves the fruit and helps it set into a jelly.
The step that matters
Testing the syrup. Sugar syrup sets as it cools and concentrates. If it is boiled too long or cooled too far, it becomes too stiff, while too little cooking leaves it runny and unable to jelly. Testing a small cooled sample shows whether the set is right before the oranges are added.
“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.
More preserved oranges recipes
You might also like
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Orange Cream Rice Pudding121 recipes
Orange Gelatin100 recipes
Orange Sherbet73 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.