Why it works: Roselle and sugar work together. They rank in the top 30% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Roselle Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Wash and pick the Roselle fruit clean.
Place the fruit in an earthen jar and add the wineglass of water.
Cook the jam
Boil in a large saucepan of water for several hours until the fruit forms a jelly.
Remove from heat and add the same weight of sugar as fruit.
Put the mixture into a jelly pan and boil, skimming off any scum.
Jar and store
Pour into jars while warm and cover once cool.
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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Roselle + sugartop 30% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Roselle fruit
- Provides the main body, tartness and natural pectin that help the jam set into a jelly.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and, with heat, helps the jam thicken and keep its set.
The step that matters
Boil until the fruit forms a jelly. Roselle needs prolonged cooking to soften and release its pectin. If it is pulled from the heat too early, the jam stays runny. Skimming off scum during the final boil keeps the jam clear and clean-tasting.
“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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