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
Remove grapes from stems and place them in a kettle.
Add enough water to cover the bottom of the kettle.
Heat the grapes and squeeze them through a coarse cloth to extract juice.
Make the jelly
Combine 1 pint of grape juice with 1 pint of sugar.
Boil the mixture slowly for 1 hour, stirring often.
Pour the jelly into jars and cover with paper, tying it securely after it cools.
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
- Wild grapes
- Provide the juice that, combined with sugar, forms the jelly's body and flavour.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jelly and, through prolonged boiling, helps it thicken and set.
The step that matters
Boil the mixture slowly for 1 hour, stirring often. Sugar and juice must cook long enough for water to evaporate and the sugar concentration to rise to the point where the jelly sets. Stirring often prevents sticking and scorching on the bottom of the pot.
“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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