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 ↓
Jujube Paste
Ingredients
Directions
Make the paste
Dissolve the gum Senegal in water.
Add the orange‑flower water.
Place the mixture in a clean preserving pan over low heat.
Stir continuously until it evaporates to a moderate consistency.
Add the clarified loaf sugar boiled to a candy height.
Stir until the mixture evaporates to a good consistency.
Dry and cut
Pour the mixture into flat tins with edges about ¼ inch deep.
Place the tins in a warm area or stove to dry.
Once sufficiently hard, cut the paste into small diamonds.
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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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
- Gum senegal
- Forms the gel-like body that sets the paste firm once dried.
- Clarified loaf sugar
- Adds sweetness and, boiled to candy height, helps the paste set firm when cooled.
- Orange-flower water
- Adds a floral aroma to the paste.
The step that matters
Evaporating to a good consistency. Stirring over low heat must reduce the mixture to the right thickness. Too little evaporation leaves the paste soft and slow to dry, while too much makes it stiff and hard to pour into tins.
“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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