Skip to main content
Dessert

Jelly

A clear fruit jelly made with fruit juice, sherry, brandy, sugar, and fruit pieces.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Sherry and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,209 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Make the jelly

  1. Strain the fruit juice through a jelly bag or a clean napkin to clarify.

  2. Add sherry and brandy to the clear liquid.

  3. For added flavor, incorporate fruit juices or liqueurs as desired.

Set and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a damp mold.

  2. Gently place soft fruits into the jelly.

  3. Cook hard fruits in syrup before adding them to the jelly.

  4. Refrigerate until set.

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.

  1. Sherry + brandytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,209 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Sherry + grapetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together229 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  3. Brandy + grapetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together711 recipes

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

  4. Brandy + sugartop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11,939 recipes

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

  5. Sherry + sugartop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,141 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Brandy and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 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

Fruit juice
Provides the clear liquid base and most of the fruit flavor of the jelly.
Sherry
Adds aroma and a mild acidity that rounds out the sweetness of the juice.
Brandy
Adds aroma and warmth, and its alcohol helps keep the flavor lively.
Sugar
Adds sweetness to balance the juice and sherry.

The step that matters

Strain the fruit juice through a jelly bag or a clean napkin to clarify.. Straining removes pulp and solids so the jelly sets clear and smooth. Cloudy juice gives a hazy, grainy set, so the juice should be left to drip through slowly rather than squeezed.

Swap the grape

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sherry, brandy, sugar):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Apricotfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Grapethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sherry, brandy, sugar. 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.

More fruit jelly recipes

Four 4Cake 4Mixed 4Molded 4Sauce 3 See all 123 →

You might also like

Brandy PeachesBrandy Peaches68 recipesGrape SherbetGrape Sherbet32 recipesBrandy CreamBrandy Cream21 recipesGrapefruit MarmaladeGrapefruit Marmalade16 recipes