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Dessert

Mint Jelly

Mint jelly made by boiling mint, water, and tarragon vinegar, then straining, adding sugar and gelatin, and setting.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Mint Jelly

Why it works: Tarragon and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,547 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Mint Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Boil the mint, water, and tarragon vinegar together.

  2. Strain the mixture.

  3. Add the sugar and enough gelatin to thicken.

  4. Boil until the gelatin is dissolved.

  5. Pour into a glass or jelly mold.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

  1. Tarragon + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,547 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Sugar + gelatintop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Mint + tarragontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together125 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Mint + vinegartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,376 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Fresh mint
Supplies the main aroma and fresh herbal flavour of the jelly.
Tarragon vinegar
Adds acidity and tarragon flavour that balance the sweetness.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the acidity of the vinegar.
Gelatin
Sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable jelly as it cools.

The step that matters

Boil until the gelatin is dissolved.. Gelatin only sets properly when it is fully dissolved. Undissolved granules leave soft spots or specks and can stop the jelly from setting evenly.

Swap the mint

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tarragon, vinegar, sugar, gelatin):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Allspicefits better
  3. Peppermintfits better
  4. Mintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tarragon, vinegar, sugar, gelatin. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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