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 ↓
Fruit Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Choose your fruit and combine it in a bowl.
Add the lemon juice, orange juice, and sugar to taste.
Set the jelly
Dissolve the gelatine in a little warm water or the juice from the canned fruit.
Mix the dissolved gelatine into the fruit mixture.
If desired, add a little wine or liquor.
Pour the mixture into a square mold and refrigerate until set.
Serve
Cut into squares and serve with poultry or meats.
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 + winetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,157 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Orange + winetop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,046 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Orange + sugartop 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
- Forms the gel that makes the jelly set firm when chilled.
- Fruit
- Provides the main flavour, colour, and body of the jelly.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness to balance the tartness of the citrus juices.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the fruit flavour.
The step that matters
Dissolve the gelatine fully before mixing. Gelatine must dissolve completely in warm liquid before it is combined with the fruit; undissolved granules leave lumps and weak spots, and the jelly will not set evenly.
“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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