Why it works: Grape and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 23% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,490 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Grape Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Extract the juice
Strip the grapes from their stalks and stir them in a pot over gentle heat until they burst and release their juice.
Strain the juice without pressure through a jelly bag or double muslin.
Weigh the juice and boil it rapidly for 20 minutes.
Make the jelly
Remove from heat and stir in 14 ounces of powdered sugar for each pound of juice until dissolved.
Boil the jelly quickly for an additional 15 minutes, stirring constantly and skimming well.
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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Grape + sugartop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,490 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Grapes
- Provide the juice and natural pectin and acid that let the jelly set.
- Powdered sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the juice thicken into a gel when boiled.
The step that matters
Boil the jelly quickly for an additional 15 minutes, stirring constantly and skimming well.. Rapid boiling drives off water so the sugar and pectin reach the concentration needed to set. Stirring prevents scorching on the bottom of the pot, and skimming removes foam that would cloud the finished jelly.
“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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