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 ↓
Raspberry Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Pick over the raspberries carefully.
In a preserving kettle, combine the raspberries and currant juice, and cook slowly for 30 minutes, stirring frequently.
Make the jam
Add the sugar and continue cooking until it thickens into a jam.
Seal and label
Once cooled, seal in earthen marmalade jars.
To seal, place a paper dipped in brandy over the top, pressing it down to exclude air.
Optionally, cover the brandied paper with a layer of cotton batting for extra protection.
Seal the paper cover tightly using egg white as glue, and label the jars.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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
- Raspberries
- Provide the main fruit flavour and the bulk of the jam.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jam and, as it cooks, thickens it into a spreadable set.
- Currant juice
- Adds extra liquid and fruit acidity to the cooking raspberries.
The step that matters
Add the sugar and cook until thickened. Sugar must dissolve and the mixture must reach a sufficient concentration to set as it cools. Undercooking leaves the jam runny and prone to spoiling, while overcooking can make it stiff and dull in flavour.
“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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