Why it works: Barley and milk work together. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 598 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity. The science ↓
Barley Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Make the barley jelly
Combine the barley and water in a pot.
Slowly boil the mixture until it reduces to 1 cup.
Strain the liquid and let it settle into a jelly.
Serve
Dissolve 2 teaspoons of the jelly in the warmed and sweetened milk for serving.
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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Barley + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together598 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pearl barley
- Its starch and soluble gums release into the water and thicken it as it simmers, setting into a jelly.
- Water
- Extracts the barley's starch and gums during boiling.
- Milk
- Provides creaminess and body to the finished drink once the jelly is dissolved in it.
- Sweetener
- Adds sweetness to the warmed milk, balancing the mild barley flavour.
The step that matters
Reducing the liquid to 1 cup. Boiling down concentrates the barley starch and soluble gums. Reducing to the right volume lets the strained liquid set as a jelly; if it is not reduced enough, it stays too thin to set.
“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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