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 Syrup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the juice
Pare the oranges and squeeze the juice from the pulp.
Make the syrup
Combine the juice and sugar in a pot.
Boil and skim the mixture until it thickens to a cream-like consistency.
Strain the syrup through a flannel bag.
Bottle
Let it cool, then pour into bottles and cork tightly.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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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
- Orange juice
- Provides the liquid and the citrus flavor that the syrup is built on.
- Loaf sugar
- Sweetens the syrup and, as it cooks down, thickens it into a syrup.
The step that matters
Boil and skim until cream-like. Sugar concentrates as water evaporates, so the syrup can over-thicken or scorch if boiled too long, and skimming removes foam and impurities that would cloud it. Stop when it reaches the described consistency.
“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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