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 ↓
Orange Marmalade
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
For six pounds of oranges, take six pounds of sugar and half a pint of water; mix sugar and water together and boil to a thick syrup, skimming carefully.
Prepare the peel
Rub the oranges with a damp cloth, then grate the yellow rind from one‑third of the oranges. Pour boiling water over the grated rind so it will not harden.
Take the orange skins from which the rind has been grated, put them in cold water, and let them boil until the skins are very tender.
When the skins are soft, drain them carefully and scrape all the stringy skins from the inside; cut into strips and put them to boil in the syrup.
Combine and set
Divide the oranges into sections, removing the seeds and every particle of the white inner skin, and also as much of the skin of each section as possible, saving only the pulp.
This must be done over a bowl so as to save all the juice; add the grated rind, the pulp and the juice to the syrup, and boil together for twenty minutes or until it jellies.
Put into jelly glasses and seal.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 2 of 3 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 2 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Orange | 1 medium (131g) | 62 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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.
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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
- Supply the pulp, juice and rind, and the pectin in peel and pith that helps it set.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the marmalade and, concentrated by boiling, helps it set into a jelly.
- Water
- Dissolves the sugar to form the syrup the fruit is cooked in.
The step that matters
Boiling until it jellies. Boiling concentrates the sugar and lets the pectin from the peel and pulp set the marmalade. Stopping too early leaves it runny, while boiling too long can darken and make it bitter.
“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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