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 Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Remove the stones and any stained parts of the apricot skin.
Put the apricots in a preserving pan.
Add sugar equal to the weight of the fruit.
Cook and set
Boil for 15 minutes, stirring constantly and skimming off any foam.
Strain through a sieve into glass jars.
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 help the jelly set.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jelly and helps it set and keep by binding water.
The step that matters
Boil for 15 minutes while stirring constantly. Stirring prevents the sugar and fruit from scorching on the base of the pan, and skimming removes foam that would cloud the jelly. Boiling must be kept up long enough for the pectin and sugar to reach a set.
“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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