Why it works: Cinnamon and clove 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 ↓
Fox Grape Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the juice
Wash the green fox grapes and place them in a preserving kettle with just enough water to cover them.
Cook until tender, then mash and strain the mixture through a cloth.
Make the jelly
For each pint of grape juice, add 1 pound of sugar and 1 teaspoon of powdered gum arabic dissolved in warm water, then stir well until the sugar dissolves.
Place the kettle over the fire and boil for 15 to 20 minutes.
Test the consistency.
Pour and set
Pour the jelly into glasses while warm.
Let the jelly sit until the next day before covering.
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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Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Grape + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,164 recipes
Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Grape + clovetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,675 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Grape + sugartop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,490 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar and cinnamon 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
- Green fox grapes
- Provide the juice and flavour that the whole jelly is built on.
- Grape juice
- Forms the liquid base that the sugar dissolves into and the jelly sets from.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and, once concentrated by boiling, helps the jelly set firm.
- Gum arabic
- Thickens the liquid and helps the jelly hold a smooth, set texture.
The step that matters
Boiling until the jelly tests ready. Boiling drives off water so the sugar and other solids concentrate enough for the jelly to set. Undercooking leaves it runny, while overcooking can make it stiff or grainy, so testing the consistency shows when it is ready.
Swap the grape
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, cinnamon, clove):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Quincefits better
- Grapethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cinnamon, clove. 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.
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