Name: Apricot Stew
Ingredients: apricots; water; sugar; allspice

Why it works: Apricot and allspice share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 74 recipes. Both carry 2-methylbutyl acetate, which smells fruit. The science ↓

Apricot Stew

Ingredients

apricots
water
sugar
allspice

Directions

Wash the apricots.
Combine apricots, a little water, sugar, and allspice in a pot.
Cook until the fruit is tender.

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 + allspicetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together74 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).
Apricot + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,630 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar + allspicetop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,938 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).