Why it works: Papaya and orange work together. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 49 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓
China Orange Marmalade
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Clean fruit carefully.
Wash oranges well.
Squeeze seeds from oranges and save juice.
Strain juice free from seeds.
Put skins and pulp through a meat chopper, and place in kettle.
Soak the skins of 14 the oranges overnight, or boil, changing the water three times.
Or pour boiling water over oranges and let stand overnight.
Then peel skins off and cut into strips.
Make the marmalade
Add juice and boil.
Add measure for measure of sugar, stirring until sugar is dissolved.
Boil until it becomes glassy.
Free pulp from seeds, add skins, and boil slowly.
Add equal measure sugar and boil until thick and glassy.
Squeeze out seeds and juice.
Put skins through a meat chopper and add to the strained juice.
Add papaya pulp cut in small pieces and boil all together.
Add as much sugar as pulp.
Boil again for 15 or 20 minutes.
To 6 ¢ papaya cut in small pieces add 4 ¢ China orange juice.
Boil 15 minutes and add 1% as much sugar as pulp.
Boil again for 15 or 20 minutes.
Squeeze the juice from the oranges.
To 1 © of juice add 2 © sugar.
Cook the orange juice and skins with sugar until stringy, then add papaya which has been cooked until soft.
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. See the original page.
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.
-
Papaya + orangetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together49 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- China oranges
- Their peel and pulp supply bitterness, pectin and body that set the marmalade.
- Papaya
- Adds soft pulp and sweetness that mellows the orange's bitterness.
- Sugar (in the method)
- Sweetens the marmalade and, when boiled down, helps it thicken and turn glassy.
The step that matters
Boiling until glassy. Sugar and pectin only set when the mixture reaches a high enough concentration. Stopping too early leaves a runny marmalade, while overcooking can make it stiff and dull.
“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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