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
Strip the currants from their stems.
Stew the currants in a saucepan with water until soft.
Strain the mixture to collect the juice.
Make the jelly
For every pint of juice, weigh out 1 pound of loaf sugar.
Add the sugar in large lumps to the juice until nearly dissolved.
Transfer the mixture to a preserving pan.
Simmer and skim the mixture as necessary.
Test the jelly by placing a small amount on a plate.
If it sets, pour into small jars or glasses.
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
- Currants
- Provide the fruit flavour and the pectin-rich juice that lets the jelly set.
- Loaf sugar
- Sweetens the juice and helps the jelly set and keep its shape when cooled.
The step that matters
Testing the set. Jelly sets only once enough pectin, acid and sugar are concentrated by boiling. Judging the set on a cold plate, rather than by time alone, shows whether it has reached the point where it will gel when cooled.
“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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