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 Cheese
Ingredients
Directions
Weigh equal amounts of pared apricots and sugar.
Wet the sugar slightly and boil it quickly to avoid discoloration.
Blanch the apricot kernels and add them to the mixture.
Boil for 20 to 30 minutes.
Pour the mixture into small pots or cups, filling them halfway.
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, with pectin and natural sugars that thicken and set the mixture as it cooks.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the mixture and, when boiled down with the fruit, helps it thicken and set into a firm paste.
- Apricot kernels
- Add a subtle almond-like aroma to the cooked fruit.
The step that matters
Boil the sugar quickly after wetting it. Sugar that boils slowly or for too long can darken and caramelise, discolouring the apricot cheese. A quick boil keeps the sugar pale and the flavour clean.
“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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