Why it works: Lemon and cherry are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,301 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Cherry Gelatine
Ingredients
Directions
Make the gelatin
Soak the gelatine in cold water for 5 minutes.
Dissolve the gelatine in boiling water, then add the sugar and cool the mixture.
Stir in the lemon juice and cherry juice.
Add the eggs and cherries
When the mixture is half congealed, fold in the beaten egg whites.
When almost fully congealed, gently add the pitted cherries.
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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Lemon + cherrytop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,301 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Sugar + cherrytop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,598 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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 wobbly, sliceable structure as it cools.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into foam, they lighten the texture and give the set gelatin a fluffy body.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the sharp flavour of the lemon and cherry juice.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and cuts the sweetness.
- Sweetened red acid cherries
- Provide fruit flavour, colour and tart pieces through the set gelatin.
The step that matters
Adding the egg whites at the right point. Fold the beaten whites in only when the mixture is half set. If it is too liquid, the foam collapses and sinks; if it is too firm, the whites will not blend evenly and lumps will form.
Swap the cherry
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, sugar, egg):
- Orangefits better
- Vanillafits better
- Limefits better
- Cherrythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, sugar, egg. 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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