Why it works: Tomato and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 33% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,667 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Tomato Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the tomatoes
Stew the tomatoes until soft.
Strain the pulp through a fine sieve or cheesecloth.
Make the jelly
For each pint of strained tomatoes, add ½ cup of sugar and 1 tablespoon of dissolved cornstarch in ½ cup of cold water.
Put the mixture into a double boiler and cook for 20 minutes, stirring until it thickens.
Turn into molds and allow to cool.
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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Tomato + sugartop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,667 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
- Tomatoes
- Provide the main body, flavour and liquid that becomes the jelly.
- Granulated sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the tomato's acidity.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the strained tomato liquid into a set, sliceable texture when cooked.
The step that matters
Stirring while the mixture cooks. Cornstarch must be dissolved in cold water first and the mixture stirred while it heats, so starch granules disperse evenly and thicken without lumps or scorching on the bottom of the double boiler.
“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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