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Rhubarb Jelly

A preserved fruit spread made from simmered rhubarb, sugar, and melted paraffin.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Rhubarb Jelly

Why it works: Rhubarb and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,852 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓

Rhubarb Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the juice

  1. Simmer the rhubarb in cold water until soft.

  2. Let the juice drip through a jelly bag without squeezing.

Make the jelly

  1. For every pint of juice, use 1 pound of sugar.

  2. Boil the mixture for 15 minutes.

  3. Heat the sugar in the oven, stirring frequently.

  4. Add the heated sugar to the boiling juice, then stir until it boils again.

  5. Strain the mixture through cheesecloth.

Jar and seal

  1. Pour the strained liquid into jelly jars.

  2. Cover the jars with melted paraffin.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Rhubarb + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,852 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Rhubarb
Supplies the tart flavour and the juice that becomes the jelly.
Granulated sugar
Adds sweetness and, with boiling, helps the juice thicken and set.
Melted paraffin
Forms a wax layer over the jelly that seals out air and mould.

The step that matters

Add the heated sugar to the boiling juice and stir until it boils again. The sugar must dissolve completely and the mixture must return to a full boil. Sugar and acid together help the pectin in the fruit set the jelly. If it does not reach a full boil again, the jelly may stay runny.

“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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