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Dessert

Raspberry Preserves

A sweet preserve made from raspberries, sugar, and currant juice, cooked until clear.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and currant 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 ↓

Raspberry Preserves

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fruit

  1. Select large, ripe raspberries, checking for insects or worms.

  2. Weigh the raspberries and use an equal weight of sugar.

  3. Layer the bottom of a preserving kettle with sugar, then alternate layers of raspberries and sugar, finishing with a layer of sugar on top.

  4. Let the mixture sit overnight.

  5. Stem and crush ripe currants.

  6. Strain the currant juice through a cloth.

  7. Add ½ pint of currant juice for every 2 pounds of fruit and sugar combined.

Cook and store

  1. Place the kettle over heat, stir in the currant juice, and bring to a boil.

  2. Remove any scum that forms.

  3. Stir gently to prevent sticking.

  4. Boil until the preserves are clear.

  5. Cool the preserves.

  6. Store in a cool, dark place.

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. Sugar + curranttop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,256 recipes

Sugar and currant 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 raspberries
Provide the main fruit flavour, body and bulk of the preserves.
Granulated sugar
Sweetens the preserves and, with boiling, helps set the fruit and preserve it.
Currant juice
Adds natural pectin and tartness to help the preserves set and balance sweetness.

The step that matters

Boil until the preserves are clear. Sugar and fruit must reach a high enough concentration and temperature to gel properly. Undercooking leaves the preserves runny, while overcooking can darken colour and dull 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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