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 ↓
Delicious Apricot Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Pare and halve the ripe apricots.
Remove and crack the stones.
Blanch and bruise the kernels.
Boil the parings, crushed stones, and skins in double the amount of water needed for the fruit until reduced by half.
Make the jam
Add ½ cup of the strained liquid, 1 pound of sifted sugar, and the pounded kernels per pound of apricots.
Set over a brisk fire.
Stir until the mixture is well combined and the fruit is thoroughly mashed.
Pour it off.
Let it cool covered.
Store
Store in a pot or pan.
Sprinkle a little sugar on top.
Place a piece of writing paper dipped in brandy over it.
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
- Ripe apricots
- Provide the fruit, pectin-rich flesh and natural flavor that form the jam.
- Sifted loaf sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the mixture set into a thick, spreadable jam.
- Apricot kernels
- Add a distinctive almond-like aroma to the jam.
- Water
- Extracts flavor and pectin from the parings and stones during boiling.
The step that matters
Reducing the boiled parings and stones. Boiling until the liquid is reduced by half concentrates the pectin and flavor that help the jam set. Too little reduction leaves a runny jam.
“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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