Why it works: Orange and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,212 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Orange Sticks
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the peel
Remove the peel from the oranges in sections.
Cut the peel into narrow strips using scissors or a sharp knife.
Cover the strips with cold water.
Bring the water to a boil.
Cook slowly until the strips are tender.
Make the syrup and candy
Make a syrup by boiling 1 cup of sugar and ½ cup of water until it reaches a hair-like consistency.
Drain the orange peel.
Add the drained peel to the syrup.
Boil for 3 minutes.
Drain the strips.
Roll the strips in granulated 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.
-
Orange + sugartop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Orange and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,212 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
- Oranges
- Thick peel supplies the strips that become the candy, and their bitter oils give flavour.
- Sugar
- Forms the syrup that sweetens the peel and crystallises on the surface once cooled.
- Water
- Dissolves the sugar into syrup and softens the peel during cooking.
The step that matters
Cooking the peel until tender before candying. Peel must be softened in water first, because sugar syrup alone will not tenderise thick rind. Sugar concentrates as water evaporates, so undercooked peel stays tough and chewy.
“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.
More orange peel sticks recipes
You might also like
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Orange Cream Rice Pudding121 recipes
Orange Gelatin100 recipes
Orange Sherbet73 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.