Why it works: Currant and rum work together. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 155 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Currant Shrub
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the juice
Strip the currants from the stems and place them in a glass jar.
Set the jar in a pan of cold water on the stove to heat gradually for at least an hour until the currants release their juice.
Strain the juice and measure it.
Make the syrup
For each pint of juice, add 6 ounces of sugar and stir until dissolved.
Let the syrup cool completely.
Finish and bottle
Once cool, add 1 quart of Jamaica rum for each pint of syrup, then strain and bottle it.
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.
-
Currant + rumtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together155 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
-
Sugar + rumtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,908 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
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
- Provide the main fruit flavour and the juice that forms the base of the shrub.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the juice and helps balance the acidity of the currants.
- Jamaica rum
- Acts as a preservative and adds aroma and depth to the finished shrub.
The step that matters
Heating the currants gradually in a water bath. Heating the currants slowly in cold water that warms gradually draws out juice gently without scorching the fruit. Rushing the heat can cook the juice and dull its fresh flavour.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, rum):
- Vanillafits better
- Pineapplefits better
- Bananafits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, rum. 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.
More currant shrub recipes
You might also like
Black Currant Cordial11 recipes
Vegetable Soup350 recipes
Raspberry Vinegar214 recipes
Brown Coffee with Egg175 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.