Why it works: Strawberry and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,060 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Another Very Tine Strawberry Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the juice
Extract juice from strawberries through a cloth and strain it until clear.
Weigh the juice and stir in an equal amount of powdered sugar.
Cook the jelly
Once dissolved, place the mixture in a preserving pan over a clear fire.
Stir the jelly often until it boils, then remove any scum.
Boil quickly for 15 to 25 minutes.
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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Strawberry + sugartop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,060 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Strawberry juice
- Provides the liquid and fruit flavour that forms the body of the jelly.
- Fine sugar
- Sweetens the jelly and helps it set by binding water and pectin during boiling.
The step that matters
Boil quickly for 15 to 25 minutes. Once the sugar is dissolved, a brisk boil concentrates the mixture and lets it reach the setting point. Boiling too gently or too long can leave the jelly runny or cause it to darken and lose fresh flavour.
“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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