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 ↓
Lemon Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Soak the gelatine in cold water for 1 hour.
Make the jelly
In a pot, combine boiling water and sugar, stirring until dissolved.
Add the grated lemons and bring to a boil.
Strain the mixture into a mold.
Set it in a cool place to set.
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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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
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable jelly as it cools.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the sharpness of the lemon.
- Lemons
- Provide acidity and fragrant aroma from the grated zest and juice.
The step that matters
Bringing the lemon mixture to a boil. Gelatine's setting power weakens when it is held at a hard boil for long, so the mixture should be heated only until it boils and then not kept boiling. Good gelling depends on the gelatine staying intact, so the jelly sets firmly.
“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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