Why it works: Orange and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,212 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Orange Marmalade
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Weigh the oranges, wipe them, and quarter them.
Slice the oranges very thin, including the rind and pulp, and remove the seeds.
For each pound of fruit, add 3 pints (12 cups) of cold water, cover, and let stand overnight.
Cook the marmalade
Cook slowly, uncovered, until tender, about 3 hours.
Weigh the mixture, and for each pound of fruit and juice, add 14 pounds (7 cups) of sugar.
Cook until the rind is clear and the syrup will gel, about 3 hours.
Jar
Pour into glasses and seal when cool.
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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Orange + sugartop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Orange and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,212 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Seville oranges
- Rind, pith and seeds supply pectin and sharp acidity that help the marmalade set and taste bright.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the marmalade and, at high concentration, lets the syrup gel as it cooks.
The step that matters
Cook until the syrup will gel. Gelling needs pectin, acid and enough sugar concentrated by boiling. Stopping too early leaves the marmalade runny, while cooking too long can make it stiff and dull in flavour.
“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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