Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Orange Paste
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Soak the gelatine in ½ cup of water for 2 hours.
Make the paste
In a saucepan, mix the sugar, orange rind and juice, lemon rind and juice, and ½ cup of water.
Heat the mixture on the stove, stirring until dissolved.
Once it starts to boil, add the soaked gelatine and boil for 20 minutes, stirring continuously.
Prepare pans with cold water, then pour the mixture into the pans.
Set and finish
Once solid, cut into squares and roll in confectioners' sugar.
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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Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,634 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable paste as it cools.
- Granulated sugar
- Provides sweetness and body, and helps give the paste its chewy texture.
- Orange rind and juice
- Adds citrus aroma and flavor, with juice supplying acidity and liquid.
- Lemon rind and juice
- Adds bright acidity and aroma that balances the sweetness.
The step that matters
Boil for 20 minutes while stirring continuously. Boiling concentrates the sugar and sets the paste's firmness as it cools. Constant stirring prevents scorching on the bottom of the pan, which would add a burnt flavor and uneven color.
“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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