Skip to main content
Dessert

Lemon Jelly

A jelly made from lemons, orange, sugar, cloves, cinnamon, gelatin, eggs, and hot water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Lemon Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wipe the lemons and orange, then remove the yellow rind in shavings.

  2. Squeeze the juice through a strainer.

  3. Soak the gelatin in a little cold water.

Make the jelly

  1. Combine all ingredients in a saucepan, including the eggs (with shells).

  2. Stir over gentle heat until the gelatin dissolves, then whisk until boiling.

  3. Remove from heat and let it settle.

Strain and set

  1. Prepare a mold or cups and strain the jelly through a jelly bag.

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. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Lemon + orangetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Orange + cinnamontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,437 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Orange + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,987 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Egg whites and shells clarify the jelly, collecting cloudy particles as it heats.
Gelatine
Sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable jelly as it cools.
Sugar
Sweetens the jelly and adds body to the syrup.
Lemons
Provide the main acidity and citrus flavor, plus juice for the jelly.

The step that matters

Stir over gentle heat until the gelatin dissolves. Gelatin must fully dissolve without scorching or boiling vigorously before straining. Overheating can weaken its setting power and cause sticking, while undissolved granules leave a grainy, unevenly set jelly.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, orange, sugar, cinnamon, egg):

  1. Cardamomfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Gingerfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, orange, sugar, cinnamon, egg. 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 lemon jelly recipes

Cake 63Filling 19Orange 12Sherry 6Apple Cake 3Clear 3 See all 310 →

You might also like

Orange Bundt CakeOrange Bundt Cake349 recipesLemon CakeLemon Cake228 recipesLemon IceLemon Ice147 recipesOrange Cream Rice PuddingOrange Cream Rice Pudding121 recipes