Why it works: Apple and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,551 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Pomona Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the apples
Pare, core, and slice the apples, then soak them in cold water to prevent browning.
Drain the apples and place them in a saucepan with the sugar and a small amount of water to prevent burning.
Simmer gently until the apples are soft.
Press the mixture through a coarse sieve.
Make the jelly
Dissolve the isinglass or gelatine in less than ½ pint of water and mix it with the apple puree.
Rub the sugar on the lemon rind until the yellow part is removed, then add it to the jelly.
Heat the jelly mixture until hot, then pour it into a mold.
Set
Set the mold in a cool place to stiffen for about 12 hours before serving.
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 + lemontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,551 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16,478 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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
- Apples
- Provide the pectin and body that give the puree its structure and flavour.
- Isinglass or gelatine
- Forms a gel as it cools, so the jelly sets firm and holds its shape.
- Loaf sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps preserve the jelly while it sets.
The step that matters
Pressing the mixture through a coarse sieve. Forcing the cooked apples through the sieve removes skins and seeds and leaves a smooth puree; leftover solids can cloud the jelly and affect its texture.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, sugar):
- Pearfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Apricotfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against apple, 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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