Why it works: Rhubarb and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,852 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Pie-plant Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the juice
Wash the pie-plant stalks well and cut them into 1-inch pieces.
Place the pieces in a preserving kettle and add enough water to cover them.
Boil until they become a soft pulp, then strain through a jelly bag.
Make the jelly
For each pint of juice, add 1 pound of loaf sugar.
Boil again, skimming often, until it jellies on the skimmer.
Remove from heat and pour into jars.
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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Rhubarb + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,852 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pie-plant stalks (rhubarb)
- Provide the tart flavor and the pectin and acid that help the juice set into jelly.
- Loaf sugar
- Sweetens the juice and, with boiling, helps it thicken and set into a firm gel.
The step that matters
Boil again until it jellies on the skimmer. Jelly sets when enough sugar, pectin and acid are concentrated by boiling. Undercooking leaves it runny, while overcooking can make it stiff or cloudy, so the skimmer test is used to judge the set.
“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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