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Dessert

Orange Marmalade

A preserved citrus spread made from one orange, one grapefruit, and one lemon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Hamilton, Ohio. First Methodist Episcopal church. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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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

Directions

Prepare the fruit

  1. Put the fruit through a meat chopper, removing seeds and cores.

  2. Measure the fruit and add to it three times the amount of water.

  3. Let it stand in an earthen bowl overnight, and next morning boil for 10 minutes only.

Finish the marmalade

  1. Add sugar, one pint at a time, and boil until it jells.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

126Calories
3 gProtein
0 gFat
32 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Orange1 medium (131g)62
Grapefruit1/2 fruit (123g)52
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Hamilton, Ohio. First Methodist Episcopal church. [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.

  1. Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

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

  2. Orange + grapefruittop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together233 recipes

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

  3. Grapefruit + lemontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together184 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

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

What each ingredient does

Sugar (in the method)
Sweetens the marmalade and helps it set into a jelly as it boils.
Orange
Supplies the peel and pulp that give the marmalade its bitter flavour and pectin.
Lemon
Adds acidity and natural pectin that help the marmalade gel.

The step that matters

Boiling until it jells. Sugar and pectin set only at the right concentration. Boiling too briefly leaves the marmalade runny, while overcooking can make it stiff and dull in flavour.

Swap the grapefruit

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (orange, lemon):

  1. Limefits about as well
  2. Grapefruitthe original
  3. Mangofits less well
  4. Blueberryfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against orange, lemon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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