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 ↓
Cukeant Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the juice
Pick currants from the stems and place them in a stone jar.
Bruise the currants with a wooden spoon.
Warm the currants and squeeze the juice through a coarse cloth or flannel.
Pour the juice into a new tin pan or porcelain kettle.
Make the jelly
Add 4 cups of sugar to the juice and boil for 15 minutes.
Avoid using iron spoons or tin dishes unless they are new and bright.
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
- Their natural pectin and acidity give the juice the ability to set into a jelly.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the juice and, with heat and acid, helps the mixture thicken and set.
The step that matters
Boil the juice with the sugar for the full time. Jelly sets when enough sugar, acid and pectin are concentrated by boiling. Stopping early leaves the jelly runny, 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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