Why it works: Apple and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,478 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Apple Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare and cook the apples
Remove the stems and tops from the apples and wash them.
Cut the apples into quarters and cover them with cold water.
Boil the apples until soft, then strain through a jelly bag.
Make the jelly
For every 2 pints of juice, add 2 pounds of crushed sugar and boil for 20 minutes.
Use the pulp
Use the leftover apple pulp for sauce or pies.
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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Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16,478 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Apple and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 16,478 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
- Juicy apples
- Their natural pectin and acid help the juice thicken and set into a jelly.
- Crushed sugar
- Adds sweetness and, with heat, helps the juice thicken and set while preserving it.
The step that matters
Boiling the juice with sugar for 20 minutes. The sugar, pectin and acid must be concentrated by boiling to reach the point where the juice sets. Boiling too briefly leaves the jelly runny, and the timing should follow the amount of juice used.
“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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