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 ↓
Red Currant Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the jelly
Mix the currants with an equal weight of sugar.
Boil the mixture quickly for exactly eight minutes, stirring constantly.
Skim off any scum that rises to the surface.
Strain and store
Pour the mixture through a clean sieve into small jars to collect the jelly.
Store the jars in a cool, dry place until completely cold.
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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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 currants
- Provide pectin and acidity, which together help the jelly set.
- Granulated sugar
- Adds sweetness, helps the jelly set, and helps preserve it.
The step that matters
Boil quickly for exactly eight minutes. Currants contain pectin, which sets into a gel with sugar and acid. Boiling too briefly can leave the jelly runny, while boiling too long can darken the flavour and weaken the set.
“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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