Why it works: Grape and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 23% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,490 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Grape Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Prepare the grapes by washing them thoroughly.
Scald the grapes in boiling water.
Strain the grapes through a cloth to extract the juice.
Make the jelly
Boil the juice slowly for 20 minutes, skimming off any foam.
Add 4 cups of sugar to the juice and boil for an additional 5 minutes.
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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Grape + sugartop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,490 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Grapes
- Provide the juice that forms the body and flavor of the jelly.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and, with boiling, helps the juice thicken and set as a jelly.
The step that matters
Boiling the juice with the sugar. Boiling evaporates water and concentrates the sugar and the fruit's natural acids and pectin, which are needed for the jelly to gel. Too little boiling leaves it runny.
“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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