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Dessert

Apples in Red Jelly

Apples simmered in a sweet red gelatinous syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and clove are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,774 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Apples in Red Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the apples

  1. Peel and core the apples.

  2. Place the apples in a large stewpan, side by side.

Make the syrup

  1. Dissolve the loaf sugar in the boiling water.

  2. Pour the sugar water over the apples.

  3. Add the lemon rind and cloves.

  4. Cover the stewpan.

  5. Stew gently until the apples are tender.

  6. Remove the apples.

  7. Add the gelatine to the stewpan contents.

  8. Stir until the gelatine is dissolved.

  9. Strain the contents into a basin.

  10. Color the syrup red with cochineal.

Finish and set

  1. Brush the tops of the apples with egg white.

  2. Sprinkle the apples with castor sugar.

  3. Place the apples in a deep glass dish.

  4. Pour the syrup around the apples.

  5. Set aside in a cold place until set.

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. Apple + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,774 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Lemon + clovetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,150 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Apple + lemontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,551 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together16,478 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Apple and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 16,478 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

Apples
Hold their shape while stewing and provide the main body of the dessert.
Loaf sugar
Sweetens the syrup and helps give it body as it cooks.
Gelatine
Sets the strained syrup so it holds firm around the apples when chilled.
Egg white
Brushed on the apple tops to help the castor sugar adhere to them.
Cochineal
Colors the syrup red.

The step that matters

Stir the gelatine until fully dissolved. Undissolved gelatine stays in granules and will not set the syrup evenly. It needs to be fully dissolved in the hot syrup before straining and chilling, or the jelly will be patchy or weak.

Swap the clove

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against apple, sugar, lemon, 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.

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