Why it works: Rhubarb and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,852 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Rhubarb Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the juice
Wash and chop the rhubarb without peeling.
Boil the rhubarb in a little water until tender.
Strain the juice through a coarse cloth.
Make the jelly
Combine 1 pound of sugar with 2 cups of juice, dissolve, and strain through a jelly bag.
Boil for 20 minutes.
Pour and cover
Pour the warm jelly into glasses and cover with white paper dipped in egg white.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Rhubarb + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,852 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
- Rhubarb
- Supplies the tart flavor and the juice that becomes the jelly.
- White sugar
- Adds sweetness and, once concentrated by boiling, helps the juice set into a firm jelly.
The step that matters
Boil for 20 minutes. Boiling the sugar and juice drives off water and concentrates the sugar. As it cools, the sugar, fruit pectin and acid form a gel. Boiling too little leaves the jelly runny, while boiling too long can make it stiff or dark.
“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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