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 Sweetmeat for Tarts
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Remove the stones from the apricots and break the kernels.
Add the green grapes and lump sugar to the fruit.
Cook the jam
Simmer the mixture until it becomes a jam, ensuring it does not boil.
Keep the mixture well skimmed while cooking.
Use clarified sugar for the best results.
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 main fruit flavour and body of the jam.
- Green gages
- Add fruit pulp, natural pectin and acidity that help the jam set.
- Lump sugar
- Sweetens the jam and helps it thicken and keep as it cooks.
The step that matters
Simmer without boiling. A gentle simmer lets water evaporate slowly so the sugar and fruit pectin set into jam. A hard boil can scorch the sugar, darken the colour and give a burnt taste.
“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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