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 ↓
Cukrant Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Extract the juice
Place the currants in a stone jar set in hot water and leave for several hours until the skins look empty of juice.
Put the currants in a flannel jelly bag and let them drip overnight without squeezing.
Make the jelly
Add 1 pound of sugar for every pint of juice.
Boil for 5 to 15 minutes.
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
- Provide the juice, which contains the natural pectin and acid that let the jelly set.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jelly and helps it set firm and keep well when boiled with the juice.
The step that matters
Boiling the juice and sugar. Boiling must be long enough to concentrate the sugar and pectin so the jelly sets, but not so long that it scorches or becomes stiff. Testing for a set is the reliable way to know when to stop.
“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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