Why it works: Sugar and white currant work together. They rank in the top 29% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 59 recipes. The science ↓
Strawberry Jellt
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Remove the stems from the strawberries and bruise them slightly.
Stir the strawberries over a gentle heat for a few minutes.
Strain the mixture without pressure.
Make the preserve
Weigh the juice and boil it quickly for 20 minutes in a preserving pan.
Remove from heat and stir in 12 ounces of sugar for every pound of juice until dissolved.
Boil again quickly for 20 minutes, skimming off any scum.
Pour the preserve into jars or glasses.
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 + white curranttop 29% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together59 recipes
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Strawberries
- Provide the juice and fruit flavour that the preserve is made from.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and, with boiling, concentrates the juice so it sets.
- Red or white currant juice
- Adds tartness and natural pectin to help the preserve set. Optional.
The step that matters
Dissolve the sugar fully before the second boil. Sugar must dissolve completely off the heat before reboiling. Undissolved grains can crystallise in the finished preserve, and boiling too long can darken the flavour and overcook the sugar.
“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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