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Mint Jelly

A sweet and tart mint-flavored jelly made with sugar, vinegar, gelatin, mint, paprika, salt, and green food coloring.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Mint Jelly

Why it works: Sugar and gelatin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,778 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Mint Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Make the jelly

  1. Boil sugar and vinegar for 6 minutes after boiling begins.

  2. Add soaked gelatin, paprika, salt, chopped mint, and green food coloring.

  3. Stir the mixture in a pan of ice water until it begins to thicken.

Set and serve

  1. Pour into a jelly tumbler or small mold.

  2. Strain if desired, and serve with mutton or lamb.

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. Sugar + gelatintop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

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

  3. Vinegar + minttop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,376 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Vinegar + gelatintop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together128 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Sugar
Provides sweetness and, with boiling, helps give the jelly its body.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that balances the sweetness and sharpens the flavor.
Gelatin
Sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable jelly as it cools.
Fresh mint
Provides the main aroma and flavor, along with flecks of green.

The step that matters

Stir in ice water until it begins to thicken. Gelatin sets as it cools, so the mixture must thicken just enough to hold suspended mint without setting in the pan. Stopping at the right point gives an even texture and keeps the mint distributed through the jelly.

Swap the mint

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

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

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