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Dessert

Snow Jelly

A gelatin dessert made with boiling water, cold water, sugar, lemon juice, egg whites, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Des Moines. Plymouth church. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,806 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Snow Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the gelatine

  1. Soak a half package of gelatine in one teacup of cold water for half an hour.

  2. Dissolve a half box of gelatine in one quart of cold water.

Make the jelly

  1. Add one quart of boiling water, three teacups of loaf sugar, and the juice of two lemons.

  2. When nearly cold, add the whites of three eggs beaten to a froth.

  3. Beat constantly for three quarters of an hour.

  4. Place the mixture on the stove and let it just boil.

  5. Strain through a cloth and add a little vinegar to make it tart, flavor with lemon.

  6. Set on the ice and let it stand until frozen enough to cut with a knife.

Serve

  1. Serve with sugar and cream.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

142Calories
7 gProtein
5 gFat
17 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Des Moines. Plymouth church. [from old catalog]. 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. See the original page.

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. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together44,316 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  4. Lemon + vinegartop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,334 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Sugar and lemon 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, sliceable jelly as it cools.
Eggs
Whites beaten to a froth add airy lightness and help clarify the jelly when strained.
Loaf sugar
Sweetens the jelly and adds body to the set mixture.
Lemons
Supply acidity and aroma, brightening the flavor of the jelly.

The step that matters

Beat constantly for three quarters of an hour. Continuous beating while the mixture cools keeps the egg whites dispersed and foamy, so the snow texture forms instead of the whites collecting and cooking unevenly.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, vinegar):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Lemonthe original
  3. Strawberryfits about as well
  4. Pineapplefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, vinegar. 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.

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