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 ↓
A Beautiful Preserve of Apricots
Ingredients
Directions
Pare the apricots as thin as possible and weigh them.
Lay the apricot halves on dishes with the hollow part facing upwards.
Strew an equal weight of sugar over the apricots.
Break the stones and blanch the kernels.
After 12 hours, place the apricots, sugar, juice, and kernels into a preserving pan.
Simmer gently until clear, removing apricot pieces as they become clear.
Transfer the apricot pieces to small pots and pour the syrup and kernels over them.
Skim off any scum that rises and cover with brandy paper.
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
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