Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Lemon Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Make the jelly
Combine lemon juice, water, loaf sugar, cinnamon stick, cloves, gelatine, lemon rind, egg whites, and crushed egg shells in a saucepan.
Whisk the mixture until it boils, then boil well.
Strain the mixture through a clean, scalded cloth into a basin rinsed with hot water until clear.
Set and mould
Once clear, pour the jelly into dariole moulds rinsed with cold water or one large mould.
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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Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,950 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Lemon + clovetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,150 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and cinnamon 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
- Lemon juice
- Provides the sharp acidity that flavours the jelly.
- Loaf sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the acidity of the lemon juice.
- Sheet gelatine
- Sets the liquid into a firm jelly as it cools.
- Egg whites
- Bind to impurities as they heat, helping the jelly come out clear when strained.
The step that matters
Strain through a scalded cloth until clear. Egg whites and crushed shells coagulate as the mixture boils and trap cloudy particles. Straining through a clean, scalded cloth removes them, so the jelly sets clear rather than murky.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, cinnamon, clove, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cinnamon, clove, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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