Why it works: Lemon and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,655 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
Wine Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the mixture
Soak the gelatine in cold water for 2 hours.
Combine the soaked gelatine, lemon juice, lemon zest, sugar, and almond extract in a bowl and cover for 1 hour.
Pour the boiling water over the mixture, stir, and strain.
Set and serve
Add the white wine and strain again through a flannel bag without squeezing.
Pour into a mold that has been wet with cold water and leave until solid.
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.
-
Lemon + almondtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,655 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
White wine + lemontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,832 recipes
Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
-
Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,679 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
-
Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
White wine + almondtop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together331 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
Lemon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid into a firm, wobbly jelly as it cools.
- White sugar
- Adds sweetness and softens the set jelly's flavour.
- White wine or sherry
- Provides the main flavour and some acidity to the jelly.
- Lemon
- Adds bright acidity and aroma from the juice and zest.
The step that matters
Straining without squeezing the flannel bag. Squeezing forces cloudy solids through the bag, making the jelly murky. Letting it drip keeps the set clear and bright.
Swap the almond
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (white wine, lemon, sugar):
- Chickpeafits about as well
- Chestnutfits about as well
- Almondthe original
- Pistachiofits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against white wine, lemon, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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.
More wine jelly recipes
You might also like
Lemon Cake228 recipes
Lemon Ice147 recipes
Lemon Sherbet103 recipes
Lemon Custard64 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.