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Preserve

To Dbt Apricots

Apricots are halved, stoned, layered with sugar, simmered in their syrup, then drained and dried.

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 Dbt Apricots

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Gently wipe, split, and remove the stones from the apricots.

  2. Weigh the apricots and arrange them evenly in a deep dish.

Sugar and cook

  1. Sprinkle 14 ounces of sugar over each pound of fruit.

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

  3. Heat the apricots slowly and simmer them gently for 6 to 8 minutes until tender.

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

Dry

  1. Drain the apricots and spread them out 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 fruit itself; it softens and turns tender and sweet as it cooks in the syrup.
Sugar
Draws moisture out of the fruit and forms a syrup that preserves it and adds sweetness.

The step that matters

Heat the apricots slowly and simmer gently. Vigorous boiling breaks down the fruit skins and flesh, so the apricots turn mushy instead of staying whole. Gentle heat lets the sugar syrup penetrate slowly and the fruit hold its shape while it becomes tender.

“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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