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 ↓
Currant Jelly, Black
Ingredients
Directions
Extract the juice
Place black currants in an earthen jar, cover tightly, and boil gently in a pan of cold water until juice is expressed.
Strain the juice through a jelly bag without pressing it, then boil for 1-2 minutes.
Make the jelly
Add ¾ pound of sugar for every pint of juice and boil for an additional 10 minutes.
Test the jelly by placing a spoonful on a plate; if it firms up, it is done; if not, boil a little longer.
Pour the jelly into small jars and cover with brandied paper followed by gummed tissue 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
- Provide the juice and natural pectin and acidity that let the jelly set.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the juice and helps it thicken and set into a jelly.
The step that matters
Testing the set on a cold plate. Jelly sets as it cools and concentrates, so a spoonful that firms on a cold plate shows the pectin, acid and sugar have reached the right balance. Boiling too little leaves it runny; boiling too long can make it stiff.
“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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