Why it works: Sugar and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Arrow Root Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Make the jelly
Wet the arrow root in a little cold water and rub smooth.
Stir the smooth mixture into the boiling water with the melted sugar.
Stir until clear, boiling steadily all the time.
Add the lemon juice.
Set and serve
Wet a cup in cold water and pour the jelly in.
Serve cold with sugar and cream, flavored to taste.
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.
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Bermuda arrow root
- Thickens the boiling water into a clear, glossy jelly as it gelatinizes.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and dissolves into the hot liquid before thickening.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavor of the mild jelly.
The step that matters
Stir until clear, boiling steadily all the time. Arrowroot thickens when starch granules swell in boiling liquid. Letting the mixture stop boiling can leave it cloudy or thin, so it must stay at a steady boil while stirring.
“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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