Why it works: Grape and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 23% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,490 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Grape Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the juice
Put the grapes into a preserving kettle and heat them, bruising with a potato masher until the juice runs freely.
Strain the mixture through a sieve or thin cloth and measure 1 pint of juice for every 1 pound of sugar.
Boil the juice for 15 to 20 minutes before adding the sugar.
Make the jelly
After adding the sugar, let it boil for 3 to 5 minutes.
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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Grape + sugartop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,490 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Grapes
- Provide the juice that, with sugar, forms the jelly's flavor and body.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jelly and helps it set when boiled with the grape juice.
The step that matters
Boil the sugar in for the right time. Boiling the juice before adding sugar concentrates it, and boiling briefly after adding sugar helps the pectin gel. Too short a boil can leave the jelly runny, while too long can make it stiff or caramelised.
“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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