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 or Greengage Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Pare the apricots, divide them, and remove the stones.
Strew half the quantity of sugar over the apricots and let sit for 6 hours.
Cook the jam
Boil the apricots slowly to a jam consistency, adding the blanched kernels.
Add the remaining sugar in lumps to make up three-quarters of the weight of the fruit.
Simmer slowly for 30 minutes, then turn into small pots or glasses.
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, pectin and flavour that form the body of the jam.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the jam and helps it thicken and keep as it cooks down.
- Apricot kernels
- Add a bitter almond-like aroma to the jam.
The step that matters
Boil the apricots slowly to a jam consistency. Sugar and fruit must concentrate to the right point; too little cooking leaves the jam runny and too much makes it stiff or scorched. Slow heating reduces scorching and lets the pectin set as the water evaporates.
“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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