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Red Currant Jelly

A sweet preserve made by boiling red currants with sugar until thickened.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Red Currant Jelly

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

Extract the juice

  1. Pick the fruit from the stalks and heat it in a preserving pan.

  2. Bruise and stir the currants while heating with a wooden spoon.

  3. Let the juice drain through a sieve.

Make the jelly

  1. Add one pound of sugar for every pint of juice.

  2. Skim well and boil gently for a few minutes.

  3. After boiling for ten minutes, remove from heat.

Test and pot

  1. Pour a little onto a plate and set in a cold place for a few minutes.

  2. If it thickens, pot it immediately.

  3. If not, boil for ten more minutes.

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.

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.

  1. Red currant + sugartop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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 help the juice set into a firm jelly.
Sugar
Adds sweetness, helps the jelly set, and preserves it for storing.

The step that matters

Testing the set on a cold plate. Pectin, acid and sugar must reach the right concentration to gel. Removing the pan too early leaves the jelly runny, while boiling too long can make it stiff and dull.

“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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