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 Marmalade
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Halve the Seville oranges and slice them thinly, removing the pips.
Make the marmalade
For every pound of oranges, add two pounds of sifted sugar and ½ cup of water to a preserving pan.
Heat the mixture over high heat, stirring and skimming until it thickens.
To test the thickness, place a small amount on a saucer and cool it in cold water.
Pot and store
Once thickened, fill pots with the marmalade and let it cool.
Cover the surface with white paper dipped in brandy, then seal with paper and white leather.
Store in a dry place.
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 + 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
- Seville oranges
- Supply the pectin, acid and bitter peel that give marmalade its set and flavour.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the marmalade, helps it set and acts as a preservative.
The step that matters
Testing for set. Marmalade sets as pectin, acid and sugar reach the right concentration during boiling. The saucer test shows whether it will gel as it cools. Too little cooking leaves it runny, and too much makes it stiff.
“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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