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Spiced Currants, Qooseberries, Etc

A preserved fruit mixture of currants and quinceberries simmered in sugar and vinegar with spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Spiced Currants, Qooseberries, Etc

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Melt the sugar in the vinegar over low heat.

  2. Add the currants, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and allspice.

  3. Bring to a boil and cook for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Nutmeg + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Sugar
Provides sweetness and helps preserve the fruit as the mixture thickens.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that balances the sweetness and helps preserve the fruit.
Currants
Form the fruit base of the preserve and supply most of its body and flavor.
Ground cinnamon
Adds warm, sweet aroma to the fruit.
Ground cloves
Adds strong, warm aroma and spice flavor.

The step that matters

Cooking the fruit for 2 hours. Long, gentle simmering with occasional stirring evaporates water and concentrates sugar, so the mixture thickens. Stirring prevents the sugars from scorching on the bottom of the pot.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, vinegar, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, allspice):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Orangefits better
  3. Vanillafits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, vinegar, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, allspice. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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