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Dessert

Elderberry and Grape Jelly

A fruit jelly made from elderberries and grapes, sweetened with sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Grape and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 23% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,490 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Elderberry and Grape Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Extract the juice

  1. Mash the elderberries and grapes in a porcelain kettle.

  2. Add ½ cup water and boil until soft.

  3. Strain the mixture through a jelly bag to extract the juice.

Make the jelly

  1. Measure the juice and return it to the fire, boiling for 30 minutes.

  2. Add an equal quantity of sugar and boil for an additional 5 to 10 minutes.

  3. Pour the jelly into glasses and seal when cool.

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. Grape + sugartop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,490 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Elderberries
Provide the main flavour and deep colour, along with natural pectin and acidity.
Grapes
Add extra pectin and acidity, helping the jelly set.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and, with the cooked fruit juice, helps the jelly set and keep.

The step that matters

Boiling the juice before adding sugar. Boiling the juice for 30 minutes concentrates it and activates the natural pectin, which is needed for the jelly to set. Adding sugar too early or skipping this boil can leave the jelly runny.

“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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