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 Marmalade
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Grate the rinds of Seville oranges and cut them into quarters, separating the flesh from the rinds.
Remove the pips and loose inner skin from the flesh using a small spoon.
Soak the rinds in cold water, then boil for 20 minutes, changing the water afterward.
Once tender, drain the rinds and slice them thin.
Cook and jar
Combine 8 ounces of sliced rinds with each pound of pulp and juice, and add 1.5 pounds of powdered sugar.
Boil the mixture quickly for 30 minutes, skimming off any foam.
Pour the marmalade into jars for storage.
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
- Seville oranges
- Provide the bitter peel and pectin-rich pulp that give marmalade its flavor and set.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the marmalade and helps it set by binding water and concentrating the mixture.
The step that matters
Boil the mixture quickly for 30 minutes. Rapid boiling evaporates water and concentrates sugar and pectin so the marmalade reaches a gel set. Too little boiling leaves it runny, while skimming foam keeps the final texture clear and clean.
“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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