Why it works: Coffee and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,344 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Coffee Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Soak the gelatine in ½ pint of cold coffee for 1 hour.
Heat 1½ pints of made coffee and add 3 tablespoons of sugar.
Set and serve
Pour the hot coffee over the soaked gelatine and stir until dissolved.
Pour the mixture into rinsed moulds and set on ice.
Serve with cream and sugar, or whipped cream.
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.
-
Coffee + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,344 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
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid coffee into a firm, wobbly jelly as it cools.
- Cold coffee
- Hydrates the gelatine so it dissolves evenly into the hot coffee.
- Made coffee
- Provides the main flavour and liquid that becomes the jelly.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the bitterness of the coffee.
The step that matters
Soak the gelatine before adding heat. Gelatine must hydrate in cold liquid first so its granules swell and dissolve smoothly. Adding it dry or to hot liquid can leave lumps and weaken the set.
“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.
You might also like
Coffee Ice Cream91 recipes
Coffee Custard27 recipes
Coffee Cake21 recipes
Coffee Bavarian Cream14 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.