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Dessert

Apricots, to Candy

Apricots are sliced, pitted, coated in sugar, baked, and dried to make candied apricots.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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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 ↓

Apricots, to Candy

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Slice the apricots on one side and remove the stones.

  2. Dry the apricots on a dish.

Candy and dry

  1. Cover the apricots with crushed sugar.

  2. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven.

  3. Dry the apricots in a warm place for a few days.

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.

  1. Apricot + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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

Apricots
Provide the fruit that becomes candied, with their flesh softening and holding the sugar as they dry.
Crushed lump sugar
Coats the fruit and, as it dissolves and dries, forms a sweet, preserving crust on the apricots.

The step that matters

Drying the apricots after baking. Sugar can crystallize and the fruit can spoil if moisture remains. Slow drying in a warm place over several days lets water evaporate gradually, leaving the fruit firm and preserved.

“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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