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Dessert

To Preserve Oranges

A method for preserving bitter oranges in a sugar syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Bitter orange and sugar work together. They rank in the top 41% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14 recipes. The science ↓

To Preserve Oranges

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the rinds

  1. Cut the rinds of the oranges into leaf shapes.

  2. Scoop out the insides with a teaspoon.

  3. Soak the rinds in cold water mixed with salt for 2 days, changing the water frequently.

  4. Boil the rinds in plenty of cold water until they are tender.

Make the syrup

  1. Clarify the sugar, using 1 pound for each orange.

  2. Place the rinds in a pot.

  3. Pour the syrup over them.

  4. The next day, pour off the syrup.

  5. Boil the syrup.

  6. Repeat this process four times.

  7. Add the strained juice of 4 bitter oranges and the rinds.

  8. Boil for 8 minutes.

Jar and cover

  1. Carefully place the rinds in jars.

  2. Pour the syrup over them to cover completely.

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. Bitter orange + sugartop 41% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together14 recipes

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Bitter oranges
Their peel provides the main structure and the characteristic bitter aroma of the preserve.
Sugar
Makes the syrup thick and sweet, and helps preserve the rinds by drawing out water.
Juice of bitter oranges
Adds acidity and bright citrus flavor that balances the sweetness of the syrup.

The step that matters

Boil the rinds in plenty of cold water until they are tender.. The rinds must soften fully before the sugar syrup is added. Boiling in fresh cold water helps reduce bitterness, and rinds left undercooked stay tough and chewy in the finished preserve.

“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.

More preserved oranges recipes

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