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 Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Extract the juice
Heat the currants in a kettle until they look shriveled, scalding them thoroughly but not boiling.
Pour the contents into a large flannel bag and drain without touching.
Add 1 pound of sugar to the juice.
Boil the juice
Boil the juice for 15 minutes without sugar.
Boil for an additional 5 minutes and skim well.
Pour into glasses.
Variation
Use ¾ pound of sugar for every pint of juice (variation).
Boil for 20 minutes and skim.
Pour into 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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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
- Currants
- Supply the juice, natural pectin and acid that let the jelly set.
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the juice and, at high concentration, helps the pectin form a firm gel.
The step that matters
Boil to the right point. Boiling drives off water so the sugar, pectin and acid reach the concentration needed to gel. Too little boiling leaves the jelly runny; too much can darken its flavour and 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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