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 ↓
Raspberry Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Mash the raspberries well with a wooden or silver spoon.
In a preserving kettle, combine the mashed raspberries and currant juice.
Cook
Bring the mixture to a boil.
Once boiling, add the sugar and cook for 20 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.
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.
-
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
- Raspberries
- Provide the main fruit flavor and bulk of the jam.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jam and helps it set into a thick spread.
- Currant juice
- Adds natural pectin and acidity to help the jam set.
The step that matters
Adding the sugar after boiling. Sugar added to fruit that is already boiling dissolves quickly and helps the jam thicken. Cooking the sugar and fruit together for the full time lets the mixture reach a gel point, so the jam sets properly when cooled.
“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.
More raspberry jam recipes
You might also like
Red Currant Jelly65 recipes
Currant Ice Cream32 recipes
Currant Sherbet9 recipes
Currant and Raspberry Ice7 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.