Why it works: Crab and sugar work together. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 407 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells grass, green. The science ↓
Apple Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the apples
Wipe the apples and remove the eye and stem.
Slice the apples and place them in a stone jar.
Submerge the jar in a pot of water and boil until the apples are tender.
Carefully remove the apples and place them in a deep flannel or linen bag.
Make the jelly
Measure the juice and for every pint, add 1 pound of powdered sugar; let it dissolve.
Pour the mixture into a porcelain-lined kettle and bring to a boil.
While warm, pour the jelly into small glasses and seal with brandied paper.
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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Crab + sugartop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together407 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (grass, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Apples
- Their natural pectin and acid let the juice set into a firm, spreadable jelly.
- Powdered white sugar
- Sweetens the juice and helps it thicken into a jelly when boiled.
The step that matters
Boiling the mixture after adding sugar. Sugar must fully dissolve before boiling, and the mixture must reach a full boil so enough water evaporates and the pectin and acid can set the jelly. Undercooking leaves it runny; overcooking can make it stiff or candied.
“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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