Skip to main content
Dessert

To Preserve Apricots

A method of preserving apricots in sugar syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Apricot and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 852 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

To Preserve Apricots

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the apricots

  1. Stone and peel the apricots, keeping them whole.

  2. Sprinkle the pounded sugar over the apricots.

  3. Let the apricots sit overnight, slit side up.

  4. Blanch the good kernels from the stones.

Cook

  1. Simmer the apricots gently until they look transparent.

  2. Add the kernels.

  3. Skim the syrup.

Jar and seal

  1. Transfer the fruit to jars.

  2. Pour the syrup over the fruit.

  3. Seal with paper when cool.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Apricot + almondtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together852 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  3. Apricot + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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, whose pectin and flesh set into the preserve as it cooks.
Pounded sugar
Draws moisture out of the fruit and sweetens, helping the syrup thicken and preserve the fruit.
Almond kernels
Add a nutty aroma and flavour to the preserve.

The step that matters

Simmer the apricots gently. Gentle simmering keeps the fruit whole and tender while the sugar slowly penetrates and the syrup thickens. Boiling hard can break the fruit apart and make the syrup cloudy or overly caramelised.

“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.

You might also like

Almond Sponge CakeAlmond Sponge Cake26 recipesApricot Ice CreamApricot Ice Cream26 recipesAlmond CustardAlmond Custard22 recipesAlmond WafersAlmond Wafers22 recipes