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
Thinly peel the apricots, cut them into quarters and remove the stones.
Cook the jam
In an enamelled pan, combine the apricots with an equal amount of finely sifted sugar.
Boil gently until the mixture is sufficiently cooked.
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
- Supply the fruit, natural pectin and flavour that give the jam its body.
- Finely sifted sugar
- Sweetens the jam, helps it set and acts as a preservative.
The step that matters
Boil gently until sufficiently cooked. Sugar and fruit must reach the setting point, where the pectin and acid form a gel as the mixture cools. Too little cooking leaves the jam runny, while overcooking darkens its colour and makes it stiff and sticky.
“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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