Why it works: Black currant and sugar work together. They rank in the top 22% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 393 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Black Currant Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the juice
Pick the currants from the stalks, wash, and drain them.
Mash the currants with a spoon and place them in a bag to squeeze out the juice.
Make the jelly
For each pint of juice, add ¾ pound of loaf sugar in a preserving kettle.
Boil the juice and sugar for about 10 minutes, skimming well.
Immediately pour the jelly into glasses while warm.
Seal the glasses with brandy paper.
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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Black currant + sugartop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together393 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Black currants
- Their natural pectin and acids help the juice set into a firm jelly.
- Loaf sugar
- Sweetens the juice and, with boiling, helps it thicken and set as a jelly.
The step that matters
Boiling the juice and sugar. Boiling must be long enough to concentrate the juice and reach the setting point. Skimming removes foam so the jelly stays clear and smooth.
“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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