Why it works: Cranberry and sugar work together. They rank in the top 25% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 374 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Cranberry Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare a strong isinglass jelly according to package instructions.
Once the jelly is cold, mix it with 2 cups of cranberry juice.
Add 1 cup of granulated sugar and boil the mixture.
Strain the mixture into a mold and let it set.
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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Cranberry + sugartop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Isinglass
- Gelling agent that sets the liquid into a firm, wobbly jelly when cooled.
- Cranberry juice
- Provides the liquid base and tart flavor of the jelly.
- Granulated sugar
- Adds sweetness that balances the tartness of the cranberry juice.
The step that matters
Strain the mixture into a mold and let it set. Isinglass sets only as the mixture cools, so it must be poured while still liquid and left undisturbed to form a firm gel. Moving it too early can prevent proper setting.
“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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