Why it works: Sugar and currant 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 ↓
Strawberry Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Pick the strawberries and place them in a pot.
Pound the sugar and pour the currant juice over it.
Cook and jar
Boil the strawberries for 20 minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon.
Add the sugar and currant juice mixture, and boil for 30 minutes, skimming off any scum that rises.
Pour into jars and let cool.
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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Sugar + curranttop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,256 recipes
Sugar and currant 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
- Strawberries
- Provide the fruit bulk, flavor, and natural pectin that help the jam set.
- Loaf sugar
- Sweetens the jam and, with boiling, thickens it into a spreadable set.
- Currant juice
- Adds tartness and acidity that balance the sweetness and support setting.
The step that matters
Skimming off the scum during the final boil. Scum that rises while the sugar boils contains impurities that can cloud the jam and spoil its flavor, so removing it keeps the jam clear and clean-tasting.
“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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