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 Pastilles
Ingredients
Directions
Make the paste
Combine apricot pulp and sugar in a pan.
Stir over medium heat until melted.
Continue stirring frequently until a drop on a plate shows signs of forming a jelly.
Shape and set
Transfer the mixture into a paper bag and pipe small lumps onto a well-buttered sheet of paper.
Sprinkle with a little granulated sugar and let set for 2 to 3 hours.
Lift the buttered paper onto a wet board and remove the sweets.
Pair two sweets together and sprinkle with sugar again.
Allow to set longer.
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
- Apricot pulp
- Provides the fruit flavour and the pectin that lets the mixture set into a jelly.
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the pastilles and, as it cooks down, helps the mixture thicken into a firm jelly.
The step that matters
Stirring until the jelly forms. The mixture must be cooked until a drop on a cold plate begins to set. Too little cooking leaves the pastilles soft and sticky, while overcooking makes them hard and tough once cooled.
“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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