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Another Way to Preserve Oranges Whole

A method of preserving whole oranges by boiling them in sugar syrup until tender.

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

Another Way to Preserve Oranges Whole

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the oranges

  1. Cut the rind of the oranges into narrow strips, being careful not to cut too deep.

  2. Soak the oranges in cold water for 2 days, changing the water twice daily.

  3. Boil the oranges in plenty of water for about 2 hours, changing the water several times until tender.

Make the syrup and preserve

  1. To make the syrup, boil the sugar with water for a few minutes and skim before adding the oranges.

  2. Drain the water and boil the oranges in the syrup for 30 minutes.

  3. Let the oranges stand for a week, then boil again for 30 minutes or less if the syrup is a good color and not too watery.

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. Orange + sugartop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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

Oranges
Thick rind and pith are softened by soaking and boiling, so the peel becomes tender to eat.
Loaf sugar
Forms a thick syrup that preserves the oranges and gives them their sweetness.

The step that matters

Boiling the oranges until tender in plenty of water. Thick rind is slow to soften, and sugar in the syrup will not penetrate properly if the peel is still firm. Changing the water removes bitterness and loosens the rind, so the oranges must be checked for tenderness before moving on to the syrup.

“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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