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 ↓
Fruit Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Soak the gelatin in cold water for 1 hour.
Pour boiling water over the soaked gelatin.
Make and set the jelly
Add the fruit and sugar, then mix well.
Stir in the lemon extract.
Pour the mixture into a mold and refrigerate until set.
Serve
Serve chilled with cream and sugar or whipped cream.
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.
- Fruit
- Provides flavour, colour and some natural body to the jelly.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the tartness of the fruit.
The step that matters
Pour boiling water over the soaked gelatin. Gelatine must be fully dissolved before the fruit and sugar are added, or it will not set evenly. Hot water melts the softened granules so they blend smoothly into the liquid.
“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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