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 Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Pare and stone the apricots.
Add 1 pound of sugar.
Let the apricots stand for 8 hours.
Cook and jar
Cook the apricots with the kernels and the remaining ½ pound of sugar.
Boil gently.
Mash with a spoon until thick.
Transfer the jam into jars.
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
- Apricots
- Provide the fruit body, pectin and flavour that set the jam.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jam and draws out moisture, helping it thicken and keep.
The step that matters
Boil gently. Sugar must dissolve fully before a firm boil, and gentle heat prevents scorching on the bottom of the pan while the jam thickens. Too vigorous a boil can burn the sugar and dull the fresh apricot flavour.
“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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