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 Paste
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Squeeze the juice from the oranges.
Boil the rinds until soft.
Scoop out the pulp with a thin wooden spoon.
Pound the rinds in a mortar with half the juice.
Rub the mixture through a sieve.
Make the paste
Keep the mixture on the fire until it thickens like marmalade.
Weigh the mixture.
Add 2 lbs of sugar for every 1 lb of pulp.
Boil for 10 minutes.
Dry and store
Spread the mixture on tin plates to dry.
Cut into desired shapes.
Store in boxes.
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
- Seville oranges
- Provide the juice, pulp and rinds that form the body and flavour of the paste.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the paste and, as it cooks down, helps it set into a firm, sliceable texture.
The step that matters
Keep the mixture on the fire until it thickens like marmalade. Sugar and fruit pectin only set properly once enough water has evaporated. Stopping too early leaves a soft paste that will not hold its shape when dried and cut.
“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.
More orange paste recipes
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.