Accessing a CSS custom property (aka CSS variable) through JavaScript

How do you get and set CSS custom properties (those accessed with var(…) in the stylesheet) using JavaScript (plain or jQuery)?

Here is my unsuccessful try: clicking on the buttons changes the usual font-weight property, but not the custom --mycolor property:

<html>
<head>
  <script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.2.0/jquery.min.js"></script>
  <style>
    body { 
      --mycolor: yellow;
      background-color: var(--mycolor);
    }
  </style>
</head>
<body>

  <p>Let's try to make this text bold and the background red.</p>
  <button onclick="plain_js()">Plain JS</button>
  <button onclick="jQuery_()">jQuery</button>

  <script>
  function plain_js() { 
    document.body.style['font-weight'] = 'bold';
    document.body.style['--mycolor'] = 'red';
  };
  function jQuery_() {
    $('body').css('font-weight', 'bold');
    $('body').css('--mycolor', 'red');
  }
  </script>
</body>
</html>