Name: Pineapple and Apricot Jam
Ingredients: 3 pounds apricots, pitted and peeled; 1 pint chopped pineapple; 2¼ pounds sugar (3/4 pound for each pound of apricots and 1 pound for each pint of pineapple)

Why it works: Apricot and pineapple match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 377 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Pineapple and Apricot Jam

Ingredients

3 pounds apricots, pitted and peeled
1 pint chopped pineapple
2¼ pounds sugar (3/4 pound for each pound of apricots and 1 pound for each pint of pineapple)

Directions

Combine the apricots, chopped pineapple, and sugar in a large pot.
Cook over medium heat for 45 minutes to 1.5 hours, stirring occasionally, until the mixture thickens.

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.

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.

Apricot + pineappletop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together377 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Apricot + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,630 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Pineapple + sugartop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,841 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Apricots: Provide the main fruit flavor and pectin-rich body that thickens the jam as it cooks.
Sugar: Sweetens the jam and helps it set into a thick, spreadable texture.
Pineapple: Adds tart, bright flavor and extra fruit that contributes to the jam's body.

The step that matters

Cooking until the mixture thickens. Jam sets as its sugar and fruit pectin concentrate through evaporation, so stopping too early leaves it runny, while cooking too long can make it stiff and dull in flavor.

Swap the pineapple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apricot, sugar):

Vanillafits better
Peachfits better
Plumfits better
Pineapplethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against apricot, sugar. 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.

Pineapple Sherbet116 recipes

Pineapple Pudding72 recipes

Pineapple Cream58 recipes

Pineapple Jelly39 recipes

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Pineapple and Apricot Jam