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To Dry Apricots

This recipe describes how to dry apricots by simmering them in sugar syrup and then drying.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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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 ↓

To Dry Apricots

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Weigh the apricots and arrange them in a deep dish.

  2. Sprinkle 14 ounces of powdered sugar over each pound of fruit.

Make the syrup and cook

  1. The next day, transfer the apricots to a preserving pan.

  2. Heat the apricots slowly and simmer for 6 to 8 minutes until tender.

Rest and dry

  1. Let the apricots sit in the syrup for 2 to 3 days.

  2. Drain and spread the apricots on dishes to dry.

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. Apricot + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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
The main fruit; it softens in the syrup and dries into a concentrated, chewy texture.
Powdered sugar
Draws water out of the fruit and forms a syrup that sweetens and preserves it.

The step that matters

Heat the apricots slowly. Gentle heat lets the fruit soften evenly and absorb syrup without splitting or breaking down. Rapid boiling can toughen the skins and make the texture uneven.

“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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