Why it works: Currant and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,057 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Currant Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Extract the juice
Pass the currants through a fine sieve.
Place the currants in a pot over medium heat, stirring until they begin to boil.
Strain the mixture through a flannel bag to extract the juice.
Measure the juice and use an equal amount of sugar.
Make the jelly
Boil the sugar until it reaches a crack stage, then add the juice.
Continue boiling until the jelly forms a web on a skimmer.
Remove from heat and let it sit for a few minutes to allow the scum to settle.
Skim off the scum and pour the jelly into pots.
Seal the pots
Once cool, cut paper to fit the pots and soak it in brandy to cover the jelly.
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 + brandytop 7% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,057 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,939 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Currant + sugartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,256 recipes
Sugar and brandy barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 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
- Their natural pectin and acid let the juice set into a firm jelly when boiled with sugar.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jelly and, when boiled, helps it thicken and set.
- Brandy
- Soaked paper placed over the jelly helps keep the surface protected from mould.
The step that matters
Boiling until the jelly forms a web on a skimmer. Boiling too briefly leaves the jelly runny, while overboiling can make it stiff or cloudy. The sheeting test shows when enough water has evaporated and pectin and sugar have reached the setting point.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, brandy):
- Vanillafits better
- Apricotfits better
- Raisinfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, brandy. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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