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 ↓
Wine Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Combine water, lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and lemon rind in a saucepan.
Heat the mixture as you would for lemon jelly.
Just before straining, add the sherry and bring to a boil again.
If using cheap sherry, boil for three minutes to enhance the flavor.
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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Sherry + clovetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,237 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid into a firm jelly when it cools.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps give the jelly body.
- Egg whites
- Whipped whites are listed in the record; their role in clearing or setting is not stated here.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity and bright flavor that balances the sugar.
- Sherry
- Adds wine flavor and aroma to the finished jelly.
The step that matters
Adding the sherry before straining. Sherry is added just before straining and reboiled, so its aroma is kept and not lost to long cooking. Cheap sherry may need the stated three-minute boil to mellow its flavor.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sherry, sugar, cinnamon, clove, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Applefits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sherry, 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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