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Dessert

Jellied Apricots

A dessert of apricots set in a sweet gelatinous syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and gelatin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,628 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Jellied Apricots

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the apricots

  1. Wash the apricots and soak them overnight in cold water.

  2. The next morning, place the apricots in a double boiler and cook over low heat until tender but still holding their shape.

Make the jelly

  1. Measure the syrup and for each cupful, use the appropriate amount of gelatin softened in a little cold water.

  2. Reheat the syrup, add the gelatin, and stir until dissolved.

Set and serve

  1. Wet the molds, place an apricot in the bottom of each, and pour the syrup over them.

  2. Set the molds in a cold place to harden.

  3. Once set, turn out the jellied apricots and serve with cream.

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. Cream + gelatintop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,628 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  2. Sugar + gelatintop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Apricot + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,630 recipes

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

  5. Apricot + gelatintop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-pinene (pine, resin).

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

What each ingredient does

Evaporated apricots
Provide the fruit flavour and the body of the dish, holding their shape when cooked until tender.
Gelatin
Sets the syrup into a firm, sliceable jelly as it cools.
Granulated sugar
Sweetens the syrup and adds to the set jelly's flavour.

The step that matters

Adding the gelatin to the syrup. Gelatin must be fully softened in cold water first and then dissolved in warm, not boiling, syrup. Gelatin that is lumpy or overheated will not set evenly into a firm jelly.

Swap the apricot

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Strawberryfits better
  3. Raspberryfits about as well
  4. Apricotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cream, gelatin. 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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