Why it works: Sugar and red currant 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 ↓
Raspberry Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Place raspberries in a preserve pan and sprinkle sugar over them.
Layer the remaining raspberries on top and let sit for 2 hours to dissolve the sugar.
Cook and test
Cook over medium heat for 20 minutes.
Test the jam by cooling a small amount on a plate before transferring to 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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Sugar + red curranttop 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
- Raspberries
- Provide the main fruit flavor and the pulp that forms the body of the jam.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and draws water out of the fruit, helping the jam thicken and keep.
- Red currant juice
- Adds tartness and natural pectin, which helps the jam set.
The step that matters
Testing the set. Jam thickens mainly as it cools, when pectin and sugar form a gel. Cooling a small sample on a plate shows whether it will set before the pan is taken off the heat. Cooking too little leaves it runny, while cooking too long can make it stiff and dull in flavor.
“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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