Why it works: Raspberry and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,101 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Raspberry Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Extract the juice
Gather fresh, ripe raspberries and break them slightly with a wooden spoon in a large jar.
Cover the jar and place it in a saucepan of boiling water for 45 minutes to 1 hour to extract the juice.
Strain the juice through a fine sieve or cloth.
Make the jelly
Measure the juice and add 1 pound of sugar for every pint of juice.
Combine the juice and sugar in a preserving pan and boil gently until the jelly thickens.
To test, pour a little on a plate; remove any scum that rises.
Pot and store
Pour the jelly into small pots, cover, and store in a dry place.
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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Raspberry + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,101 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
- Raspberries (in the method)
- Provide the juice that gives the jelly its flavour, colour and natural pectin-bearing body.
- White sugar
- Sweetens the jelly and, with heat, helps it set to a firm, spreadable texture.
The step that matters
Boiling until the jelly thickens. Sugar and fruit acid set into a gel only at the right concentration. Boiling too briefly leaves a runny jelly, while boiling too long can darken the colour and dull the flavour.
“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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