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Apricots, to Preserve

A preserved apricot recipe using sugar syrup and apricot kernels.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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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 ↓

Apricots, to Preserve

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fruit

  1. Select fine apricots and peel them thinly.

  2. Weigh the apricots and cut them in half, removing the kernels.

  3. Place the apricot halves inside up and sprinkle with an equal weight of pounded sugar.

  4. Break the stones of the apricots and blanch the kernels.

  5. Let the fruit sit in the sugar for 12 hours.

Cook the preserve

  1. In a preserving pan, combine the fruit, sugar, juice, and kernels.

  2. Simmer gently until clear, skimming off any scum.

  3. Remove the apricot halves and let them cool.

Pack and seal

  1. Pack the cooled apricots into jars and pour the syrup and kernels over them.

  2. Cover with brandy paper and secure tightly.

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. Apricot + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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

Fine apricots
Provide the fruit that forms the body and flavour of the preserve.
Pounded loaf sugar
Sweetens the fruit and draws out moisture, helping the syrup form and preserve the fruit.
Apricot kernels
Add a nutty, almond-like aroma to the syrup.

The step that matters

Simmer gently until clear. Boiling hard breaks the apricot halves apart and clouds the syrup. Gentle simmering keeps the fruit whole, and skimming removes foam and impurities so the preserve looks clear.

“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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