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
Cut the apricots into pieces and remove the stones.
Mash the fruit in a marble mortar to form a smooth pulp.
Heat the pulp over medium heat until nearly boiling.
Rub the hot pulp through a fine sieve.
Cook the jam
For every pint of pulp, add 1 pound of powdered sugar.
Stir the mixture and simmer over low heat until it clears from the bottom of the pan, stirring constantly.
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
- Ripe apricots
- Provide the fruit pulp, flavor and natural pectin that set the jam.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the jam and helps it thicken as it cooks down into a spreadable set.
The step that matters
Simmering until the mixture clears from the bottom of the pan. Sugar and fruit must cook long enough to reach a thick, gel-forming consistency, while constant stirring over low heat keeps the sugar from scorching on the base of the pan.
“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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