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 or Marmalade
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Skin the apricots, break them in halves, and remove the stones.
Weigh the fruit and measure out an equal amount of sugar.
Layer the apricots in a large dish, sprinkling each layer with sugar. Let them stand for 12 hours.
Remove the kernels from the stones and blanch them.
Make the jam
In a preserving pan, combine the fruit, sugar, and kernels. Simmer gently, skimming as needed.
As the apricot pieces become clear, remove them from the syrup and place them in jars.
Jar and seal
Pour the syrup and kernels over the apricots in the jars.
Cover with paper dipped in salad oil, then stretch tissue paper over the tops and brush with egg white. Allow to dry.
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 body and flavour that the jam is built around.
- Fine preserving sugar
- Adds sweetness and draws water out of the fruit, helping it set and keep.
- Apricot kernels
- Add a subtle, almond-like aroma to the syrup.
The step that matters
Simmer gently until the apricot pieces turn clear. Vigorous boiling can break the fruit apart and darken the syrup, while under-cooking leaves the sugar too dilute to set. Gentle simmering and skimming keep the pieces whole and the jam clear.
“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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