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 the grapes
Remove the stems from the ripe grapes and mash them.
Cool the mashed grapes until well done.
Strain the cooled grapes without pressing.
Make the jelly
Add 1 pound of granulated sugar to each pint of juice.
Boil steadily for 10 minutes or until it jellies. Test the jelly with a spoon.
Pot and set
Pour the jelly into glasses.
Let the jelly cool.
Sift powdered sugar over the top to preserve it.
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
- Ripe grapes
- Provide the juice, natural pectin and acidity that help the jelly set.
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the jelly and, when concentrated by boiling, helps it set into a gel.
The step that matters
Boil steadily until it jellies. Boiling evaporates water and concentrates the sugar and pectin. Too little boiling leaves the jelly runny, while overboiling makes it stiff and tough.
“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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