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Mint Jelly

A gelatin dessert flavored with mint and lemon.

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

Why it works: Lemon and mint are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,998 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Mint Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the gelatin in a little cold water.

  2. Mash the mint with a spoon, mixing it with a bit of the sugar.

Make the jelly

  1. Pour the hot water over the mint mixture.

  2. Add the remaining sugar and the juice of the lemon.

  3. Strain the mixture and pour it into a mold to set.

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. Lemon + minttop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,998 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Gelatin + sugartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

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

  4. Gelatin + lemontop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,215 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-pinene (pine, resin).

  5. Sugar + minttop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,592 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (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

Gelatin
Sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable jelly as it cools.
Fresh mint
Provides the main aroma and flavor of the jelly.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps balance the sharpness of the lemon.
Lemon
Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and balances the sugar.

The step that matters

Soak the gelatin in a little cold water. Gelatin must hydrate in cold liquid before it is dissolved in hot liquid. Adding it dry or to hot liquid without soaking can cause clumping and uneven setting.

Swap the mint

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Gingerfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Mintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against gelatin, 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.

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