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 ↓
Fox Grape
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the juice
Pick off the stems from the grapes.
Stew the grapes in a brass skillet with water until fully cooked.
Strain the stewed grapes through a colander, then through a muslin cloth.
Make the jelly
For every pint of juice, add a pound of sugar and boil until it thickens into jelly.
Pour and set
Pour the jelly into molds and cover with paper once cooled.
Add a small piece of alum to the grapes while cooking to enhance the color.
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
- Green grapes
- Provide the juice that forms the body and flavour of the jelly.
- Loaf sugar
- Adds sweetness and, when boiled with the juice, helps the mixture thicken and set.
The step that matters
Boiling the juice with sugar until it thickens. The jelly sets only when sugar and fruit pectin reach the right concentration during boiling. Too little boiling leaves it runny, and too much makes it stiff and dry once cooled.
“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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