Why it works: Red currant and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 26% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,156 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Currant Water Ice
Ingredients
Directions
Mix the red currant juice, clarified sugar, and soft water together.
Strain the mixture through a fine sieve.
Freeze the mixture until solid.
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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Red currant + sugartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,156 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Red currant juice
- Provides the main tart fruit flavour and the base liquid of the ice.
- Clarified sugar
- Sweetens the ice and lowers its freezing point so it stays soft rather than rock hard.
- Soft water
- Dilutes the juice to a drinkable strength and adds volume to the ice.
The step that matters
Freezing the mixture until solid. Sugar and juice freeze unevenly and slowly, so stirring or breaking up the ice as it forms gives a smoother texture than leaving it to freeze in one block.
“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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