Why it works: Gooseberry and sugar work together. They rank in the top 25% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 131 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Unmixed Gooseberry Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Boil the red gooseberry juice for 10 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in the powdered sugar until dissolved.
Boil again for 5 minutes, stirring constantly and skimming thoroughly.
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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Gooseberry + sugartop 25% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together131 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
- Red gooseberry juice
- Provides the liquid and natural pectin and acid that let the jelly set.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the jelly and helps it set firm and hold its shape as it cools.
The step that matters
Boiling again while stirring constantly and skimming. Sugar must dissolve fully before the second boil, and constant stirring prevents scorching on the bottom. Skimming removes foam so the jelly sets clear rather than cloudy.
“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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