Why it works: Orange and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,212 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Orange Chips
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the peel
Cut oranges in half and squeeze the juice through a sieve.
Soak the orange peels in water overnight.
Boil the peels in the same water until tender, then drain and slice them.
Candy the peel
Combine the sliced peels with the juice and an equal weight of sugar in a broad dish.
Place the dish over low heat, stirring often until the mixture candies.
Dry
Set the chips in a cool room to dry for at least three weeks.
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.
-
Orange + sugartop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Orange and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,212 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Oranges
- Peel supplies the chips' bitter aroma and body, while juice adds acidity and flavour to the syrup.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the peel and, as it thickens, coats and preserves the chips, giving them a candied texture.
The step that matters
Stirring over low heat until the mixture candies. Sugar concentrates as the juice evaporates. Heat that is too high can scorch the sugar and burn the peel, while stopping too early leaves the chips sticky and unable to dry firm.
“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
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Orange Cream Rice Pudding121 recipes
Orange Gelatin100 recipes
Orange Sherbet73 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.