Why it works: Rhubarb and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,852 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Rhubarb Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Extract the juice
Steam the rhubarb pieces until very soft.
Drain the rhubarb in a sieve overnight.
Press the rhubarb to extract all the juice.
Boil the juice and strain it.
Make the jelly
Preheat the oven and heat the sugar.
Add 1 pound of sugar to each pint of juice.
Boil until the jelly forms when tested.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Rhubarb + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,852 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
- Rhubarb
- Provides the tart flavour and the juice that becomes the jelly.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jelly and helps it set as the boiling juice thickens.
The step that matters
Boil until the jelly forms when tested. Boiling drives off water and concentrates the sugar and fruit solids so the juice gels as it cools. Stop too early and the jelly stays runny; boil too long and it turns stiff and dull.
“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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