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 ↓
Currant Paste
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Press the currants through a sieve to extract the juice.
Set aside three parts of the juice for jelly.
Rub the remaining fruit with the juice through the sieve.
Make the paste
Boil the mixture, stirring constantly, until it is dry.
Add ½ pound of sugar for each pound of fruit.
Boil for an additional 20 minutes.
Avoid burning the paste.
Transfer the paste into jars for storage.
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
- Ripe currants
- Provide the fruit pulp and acidity that form the body and tart flavour of the paste.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the paste and, as it cooks down, helps it thicken and keep well in storage.
The step that matters
Boil the paste without burning it. Once the mixture is thick and dry, sugars concentrate and scorch easily on the bottom of the pan. Constant stirring spreads the heat evenly and prevents burnt flavour.
“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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