Why it works: Sugar and grape 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 ↓
Jelly Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Melt the sugar and grape jelly over the fire in boiling water.
Dissolve the cornstarch in cold water and stir it into the mixture.
Let it come to a boil, and it will be ready for use.
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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Sugar + grapetop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps give the sauce body.
- Grape jelly
- Provides flavour and pectin-based thickening as it melts into the sauce.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the sauce into a smooth, glossy consistency when it comes to a boil.
The step that matters
Stirring in the cornstarch. Cornstarch must be dissolved in cold water first so it does not clump. Once it reaches a boil, starch granules swell and thicken the liquid, so the sauce needs to boil to reach full thickness.
“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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