Why it works: Lemon and orange match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Orange Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Make the jelly
Soften the gelatine in cold water.
Dissolve the gelatine in hot water.
Add the sugar, lemon juice, and orange juice.
Strain the mixture through cheesecloth.
Set and serve
Mould the jelly and garnish with orange slices if desired.
Unmould and surround with whipped cream and candied orange peel.
Alternatively, serve in an orange basket made from the skin with whipped cream on top.
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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Lemon + orangetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,634 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Lemon and sugar 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 citrus juices.
- Orange juice
- Provides the main flavour and liquid base of the jelly.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the orange flavour.
The step that matters
Soften the gelatine in cold water. Gelatine must hydrate fully in cold water before being dissolved in hot water; if it goes straight into hot liquid it can clump and set unevenly, weakening the jelly.
“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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