Name: Orange Marmalade
Ingredients: eight oranges; two lemons; two grape fruits

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 ↓

Orange Marmalade

Ingredients

eight oranges
two lemons
two grape fruits

Directions

Prepare the fruit

Slice oranges and lemons with peel on.
Use only the pulp of grapefruits.

Cook and stand

Add water equal to one and a half times the amount of fruit, and cook for one and a half hours.
Let stand overnight.

Finish and serve

Measure again, adding sugar equal to one and a half times the amount of fruit.
Cook for forty-five to sixty minutes.
Put in glasses.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

136Calories

2 gProtein

1 gFat

35 gCarbs

Counts 3 of 4 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 3 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Orange	1 medium (131g)	62
Grape	1/2 cup (76g)	62
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Fruit	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.

By Chicago. Bethany union church. Woman's society. [from old catalog]. 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. 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.

Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,634 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Orange + grapetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,771 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Lemon + grapetop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,412 recipes

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Oranges: Provide the bitter peel and pulp that give marmalade its characteristic flavour and body.
Lemons: Add acidity and natural pectin that help the marmalade set.
Grapefruits (in the method): Add extra pulp and bitterness, balancing the sweetness of the sugar.
Sugar (in the method): Adds sweetness and, once dissolved and concentrated by cooking, helps the marmalade set.