Name: Punch Jelly
Ingredients: 1 ounce isinglass or Carragan moss; 2 cups water; ¼ pound pounded white sugar-candy; juice of 4 lemons; 1 cup raisin wine or foreign wine; ½ cup rum

Why it works: Sugar and raisin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,481 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Punch Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Make the jelly

Dissolve isinglass or Carragan moss in water.
Add pounded sugar-candy, lemon juice, raisin wine, and rum.
Strain the mixture.

Serve

Serve in a mold or glass dish.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,481 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar + rumtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,908 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Lemon + raisintop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,742 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Raisin + rumtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together153 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Sugar and lemon 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

Isinglass or carragan moss: Gelling agent that sets the liquid into a firm jelly.
Pounded white sugar-candy: Adds sweetness and body to the punch.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the sweet, boozy flavour.
Raisin wine: Contributes fruity flavour and liquid to the jelly.
Rum: Adds aroma and warmth while flavouring the jelly.