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 ↓
Ot Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Remove the stones and any stained parts of the skin from the apricots.
Weigh the apricots and use the same weight in sugar.
Place the apricots in a preserving pan.
Cook and strain
Boil for 15 minutes, stirring constantly and skimming off any foam.
Strain the mixture through a sieve into glass jars.
Finish
Crack some of the stones and place the kernels on top of each jar of jelly.
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 flavour and natural pectin that helps the jelly set.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jelly and helps it set firmly and keep well.
The step that matters
Boil for 15 minutes while stirring constantly. The mixture must reach a high enough concentration of sugar and pectin to set as it cools. Constant stirring stops the fruit and sugar from sticking and scorching on the base of the pan, which would spoil the flavour and colour.
“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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