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Dessert

Cider Jelly

A gelatinous dessert made from apple, cider, cinnamon, and egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and cider are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,238 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Cider Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Combine water, sliced apple, cinnamon stick, and egg whites in a saucepan, excluding the cider.

  2. Beat the egg whites slightly with a little water.

  3. Set the pan over gentle heat and stir until boiling.

  4. Allow the thick, white scum to rise, cover, and let it stand for 10 minutes.

  5. Warm the cider and add it to the mixture.

Strain and set

  1. Pass 1 quart of boiling water through a jelly bag.

  2. Pour the jelly through the bag.

  3. Pour the jelly into a mold and let it set.

Serve

  1. Garnish with a puree of apples and whipped cream, sweetened and flavored to taste.

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. Apple + cidertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,238 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  2. Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,598 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  3. Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Cinnamon + cidertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,497 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  5. Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together16,478 recipes

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

Cinnamon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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

Leaf gelatine
Sets the liquid into a firm jelly that holds its shape when unmolded.
Egg whites
As they heat, they collect cloudy particles into a scum that is removed, clarifying the jelly.
Cider
Forms the main liquid and supplies the jelly's apple flavour.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the tartness of the cider.
Cinnamon stick
Adds warm, spiced aroma to the infused liquid.

The step that matters

Letting the white scum rise and standing before straining. Egg whites trap cloudy particles as they heat and form a scum. Letting it rise and stand before straining lets that scum hold impurities, so the jelly stays clear rather than murky.

“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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