Why it works: Sugar and apricot 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 ↓
Another Way to Make Afrxcot Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the apricots
Pare and chop the apricots into small pieces.
Sprinkle some sugar over the chopped apricots and soak the parings in cold water.
Break the stones, blanch, and pound the kernels.
Make the liquid
Boil the kernels, shells, and parings in water until reduced by half.
Strain the mixture to obtain enough liquid for 3 to 4 tablespoons per pound of apricots.
Cook the jam
Combine the strained liquid, sugar, and apricots in a preserving pan.
Mash the mixture and remove any scum.
Boil quickly until the jam becomes transparent.
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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Sugar + apricottop 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 pectin that thickens the jam as it cooks.
- Pounded loaf sugar
- Sweetens the jam and helps it set into a thick, spreadable texture.
- Apricot kernels
- Add a distinctive almond-like aroma to the strained liquid used in the jam.
The step that matters
Boil quickly until the jam becomes transparent. Fast boiling evaporates water and concentrates sugar and fruit pectin so the jam sets. Slow boiling over a long time can dull color and flavor and overcook the fruit.
“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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