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 ↓
Goosebebby Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Gather gooseberries in dry weather when ripe but not too soft.
Weigh the gooseberries and cut off the tops and tails with scissors.
In a preserving pan, combine gooseberries and red currant juice.
Make the jam
Boil quickly while stirring until the gooseberries begin to break.
Add the sugar and simmer until the jam becomes firm, skimming and stirring to prevent burning.
Boil for about 1 hour with the currant juice and 1 to 1.5 hours with the sugar.
Pot and seal
Pour the jam into small pots and let it cool completely.
Cover the pots with oiled and egged papers.
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.
-
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 hairy gooseberries
- Provide the main fruit body and natural pectin that help the jam set.
- Red currant juice
- Adds extra pectin and acidity to help the jam set and brighten its flavour.
- Loaf sugar
- Sweetens the jam and, as it dissolves and concentrates, helps it thicken and keep.
The step that matters
Simmering after the sugar is added. Sugar can scorch on the bottom of the pan, so frequent stirring and skimming are needed. The jam also sets only when enough water has evaporated and the sugar concentration is high enough, so it must simmer until it firms.
“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.
More gooseberry jam recipes
You might also like
Red Currant Jelly65 recipes
Currant Ice Cream32 recipes
Currant Sherbet9 recipes
Currant and Raspberry Ice7 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.