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Dessert

Rice Jelly

Rice jelly is a sweet dessert made by cooking rice with water, cinnamon, and sugar until thick, then setting in molds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Rice Jelly

Why it works: Rice and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,137 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Rice Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash the rice.

  2. Put the rice into boiling water with the cinnamon.

  3. Boil gently for about 45 minutes until the water is thick and starchy.

Set and serve

  1. Strain and sweeten to taste.

  2. Set in small molds rinsed with water, and when firm, turn out.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

  1. Rice + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,137 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Rice + sugartop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,744 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Cinnamon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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

Rice
Its starch thickens the cooking water and gives the jelly its body as it sets.
Cinnamon
Adds a warm, aromatic flavour to the cooking water.
Sugar
Adds sweetness to the strained liquid, balancing the mild rice flavour.

The step that matters

Boil gently for about 45 minutes. A gentle simmer lets the rice starch swell and release fully, thickening the liquid evenly. Vigorous boiling can scorch the bottom of the pan and break down the starch unevenly.

“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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