Why it works: Sugar and red currant are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 26% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,156 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Raspberry Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Extract the juice
Remove the stalks from the raspberries and place them in a stone jar.
Bruise the raspberries slightly, cover the jar, and place it in a pan of boiling water.
Keep boiling gently until the juice flows freely.
Strain the juice through a muslin-lined sieve until no more juice flows.
Make the jelly
Measure the juice and combine it with 1 pound of sugar for each pint of juice in a saucepan.
Stir occasionally, skim carefully, and boil gently until it sets when a little is poured on a plate.
Jar and store
Pour the jelly into small jars, cover when cold, and store in a dry, airy place.
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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Sugar + red curranttop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,156 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Raspberries
- Provide the fruit juice that gives the jelly its flavor and natural pectin for setting.
- Loaf sugar
- Sweetens the jelly and, with boiling, helps it thicken and set.
The step that matters
Boil until the jelly sets. Boiling concentrates the juice and sugar until enough pectin and acid can form a gel. Undercooked jelly stays runny, while overcooking can make it stiff or dull in flavor. Testing a drop on a cold plate shows when it is ready.
“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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