Why it works: Sugar and orange 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 ↓
Genevieve Engelthaler
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the peel
Wipe the orange, remove the peel in quarters and cut it into narrow strips.
Place peels in a saucepan.
Cover with cold water, let boil up once and drain.
Repeat five times to extract the bitter taste.
Candy the peel
Heat the sugar with hot water and when dissolved add the orange peel.
Cook slowly until the syrup is nearly evaporated.
Drain and roll the strips in granulated sugar.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 2 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Orange | 1 medium (131g) | 62 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
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.
-
Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar and orange 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
- Sugar
- Sweetens the peel and, cooked into syrup, coats and preserves the strips.
- Orange peel
- Supplies the citrus aroma and flavour that the candied strips carry.
The step that matters
Repeating the boil-and-drain rinses. Peel contains bitter compounds that dissolve in boiling water, so repeated boiling and draining removes much of the bitterness before the peel is candied. Skipping rinses leaves the finished strips noticeably 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.
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.