Why it works: Apricot and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,630 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Apricot Syrup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the apricots
Remove the skins from the apricots, stone them, and cut them into small pieces.
Place the apricots in a dish and sprinkle a thin layer of sifted sugar over them. Let them sit for 2 hours.
Transfer the apricots to a saucepan with a little water and simmer gently until soft.
Make and bottle the syrup
Strain the juice and add sugar in the proportion of 1 pound of sugar to 1 pint of juice.
Boil gently, skimming thoroughly, for 10 to 12 minutes until thick and clear.
Let it cool, then bottle the syrup.
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.
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Apricot + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,630 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
- Ripe apricots
- Provide the fruit flavour and the juice that becomes the syrup.
- Sifted sugar
- Sweetens the syrup and, once boiled, thickens it into a syrup.
The step that matters
Skimming during the boil. Skimming removes foam and fruit solids that would cloud the syrup, so a thorough skim helps it stay clear. Gentle boiling keeps it from scorching while it thickens.
“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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