Why it works: Currant and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 26% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,256 recipes. The science ↓
Currant Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the juice
Heat currants in a kettle until they look shriveled, scalding thoroughly but not boiling.
Pour the contents into a large flannel bag and drain without touching.
Make the jelly
Boil the juice for 15 minutes without sugar, then add sugar and boil for an additional 5 minutes.
Skim well and pour into glasses.
Squeeze the remaining juice from the bag to make additional jelly, though it will be less quality.
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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Currant + sugartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,256 recipes
Currant and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,256 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
- Currant juice
- Provides the fruit flavour and the pectin and acid that let the jelly set.
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the jelly and, with the acid and pectin, helps it set firm.
The step that matters
Boiling the juice before adding sugar. Boiling the juice alone for 15 minutes concentrates it and drives off water, so the pectin and acid are strong enough to set the jelly once sugar is added. Adding sugar too early or skipping the boil can leave the jelly soft.
“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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