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 Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the pulp
Cut the apricots into pieces and remove the stones.
Mash the fruit in a marble mortar to form a smooth pulp.
Heat the pulp over the fire until nearly boiling.
Rub the hot pulp through a fine sieve.
Make the jam
Add 1 pound of powdered sugar to 1 pint of the pulp and stir together.
Simmer the mixture over the fire, stirring constantly, until it clears from the bottom of the pan.
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 pulp that forms the body and flavor of the jam.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the jam and helps it thicken as it cooks down into a spreadable set.
The step that matters
Simmering with constant stirring. Stirring keeps the sugar and fruit from scorching on the bottom of the pan, and the jam must be cooked long enough for the pectin and sugar to reach a set.
“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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