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 ↓
Apricot Marmalade
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Pare and stone the apricots, then slice them.
Cook
In a pot, combine the sugar and cook until it nearly reaches a candy height.
Add the sliced apricots to the pot and boil quickly, removing any scum that forms.
Once the mixture is clear, remove it from the heat and add the apricot kernels if desired.
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
- Apricots
- Provide the fruit body, flavor, and natural pectin that helps the marmalade thicken.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and, when concentrated by cooking, helps the marmalade set and keep.
The step that matters
Boil quickly with the sliced apricots. A fast, strong boil evaporates water and concentrates the sugar and fruit pectin so the marmalade sets. A slow boil can leave it runny or overcook the fruit, so skim off the scum as it forms.
“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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