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 Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Divide the apricots, placing the hollow side up on a china dish.
Sprinkle 12 ounces of sugar over each pound of fruit.
Let the fruit sit until it becomes moist.
Cook the jam
Boil the mixture for 20 minutes, stirring well.
Blanch the apricot kernels and add them to the jam.
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 base, bulk, and fresh apricot flavor that the jam is built on.
- Sugar
- Draws moisture out of the fruit and adds sweetness while helping the jam thicken.
The step that matters
Boil the mixture for 20 minutes, stirring well. Sugar and fruit can scorch on the bottom of the pan if left still. Stirring keeps the mixture even and lets the sugar dissolve and the jam reach a thick, set consistency.
“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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