Why it works: Sugar and gelatin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,778 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Cherry Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cherries
Mash the cherries in a bowl with a wooden spoon.
Mix in the currant jelly, lemon juice, and crushed cherry kernels.
Make the jelly
Boil and skim the clarified sugar and isinglass until clear.
Place the cherry mixture in a jelly bag and pour the sugar mixture over it.
Allow the mixture to run through until clear.
Taste and adjust sweetness with more sugar or lemon juice as needed.
Set and serve
Wet a mold, set it in ice, and fill it with the jelly.
Do not unmold until just before 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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Sugar + gelatintop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,778 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Currant + lemontop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,270 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Currant + sugartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,256 recipes
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Lemon + gelatintop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,215 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-pinene (pine, resin).
Lemon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
- Cherries
- Provide the main fruit flavor, color, and body of the jelly.
- Currant jelly
- Adds extra pectin and fruit flavor to help the jelly hold together.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the sweetness and balances the flavor.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jelly and helps give it a firm, clear set.
- Isinglass
- Gelatin that sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable jelly.
The step that matters
Boil and skim the sugar and isinglass until clear. Isinglass must dissolve fully and be heated enough to set firmly, while skimming removes impurities that would cloud the jelly. Overheating or skipping the skim can leave the set weak or the color dull.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, sugar, gelatin):
- Orangefits better
- Vanillafits better
- Limefits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, sugar, gelatin. 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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