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English Orgeat Syrup

A syrup made from sweet and bitter almonds, water, orange‑flower water, and clarified syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and orange are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,125 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

English Orgeat Syrup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the almond base

  1. Beat the sweet and bitter almonds in a marble mortar until very smooth.

  2. Mix the almond paste with 1 pint of water and strain it through a cotton bag.

Make the syrup

  1. Boil 1 quart of clarified syrup, then mix in the strained almond liquid.

  2. Boil the mixture until it reaches a fine syrup consistency.

  3. Bottle the syrup while warm, but do not seal the bottles until the syrup is completely cold, preferably the next day.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Almond + orangetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,125 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Almond + syruptop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together746 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Orange + syruptop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,179 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Sweet almonds
Provide the main nutty flavour and the body of the almond liquid.
Bitter almonds
Add a deeper, sharper almond aroma that balances the sweetness.
Clarified syrup
Supplies the sugar that sweetens the syrup and gives it body.
Orange-flower water
Adds a floral aroma that complements the almond flavour.

The step that matters

Sealing the bottles. Sealing the bottles while the syrup is still warm traps steam and heat, which can create pressure and encourage fermentation or spoilage. Waiting until the syrup is fully cold avoids this risk.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (almond, syrup):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against almond, syrup. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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