Name: Jim Jam
Ingredients: five pounds of sugar; 5 pounds of currants; 1 quart red raspberry juice; 1 pound large raisins seeded; 6 boxes required; 2 seedless oranges cut in dice

Why it works: Currant and raisin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,180 recipes. Both carry gamma-nonanolactone, which smells coconut, creamy. The science ↓

Jim Jam

Ingredients

Directions

Combine five pounds of sugar, juice from five pounds of currants, one quart red raspberry juice (about six boxes required), one pound large raisins seeded and cut in two, and two seedless oranges cut into dice (peel and all).
Boil all.
Serve with meats.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

237Calories

3 gProtein

1 gFat

59 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 4 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Red Raspberry	1 cup (123g)	64
Grape	1/2 cup (76g)	62
Orange	1 medium (131g)	62
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By North End Club (Chicago, Ill.). Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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. See the original page.

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.

Currant + raisintop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,180 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
Red raspberry + orangetop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Raisin + orangetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,684 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,481 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Red raspberry + raisintop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Sugar: Provides sweetness and, when boiled with fruit, helps set the jam.
Currants: Supply the juice that gives the jam its tart fruit flavor.
Red raspberry juice: Adds liquid and raspberry flavor to the fruit mixture.
Raisins: Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness to the jam.
Oranges: Contribute acidity and bitter citrus aroma from the peel.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, red raspberry, raisin, orange):

Vanillafits better
Lemonfits better
Figfits better
Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, red raspberry, raisin, orange. 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.