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Dessert

Spiced Currants

A preserved currant mixture flavored with sugar, pepper, vinegar, cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

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

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine currants, sugar, black pepper, vinegar, cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large pot.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat.

  3. Boil for one hour, 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. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Currants
Provide the fruit base, along with their natural pectin and tartness, for the body of the preserve.
Sugar
Sweetens the mixture and helps thicken it as it cooks down.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that balances the sweetness and brightens the fruit flavour.
Cinnamon
Adds warm, sweet aroma that complements the fruit.
Cloves
Contribute a strong, warm aroma that stands out in the spiced mixture.

The step that matters

Boil for one hour, stirring occasionally. Long simmering evaporates water and concentrates the sugar and fruit, thickening the mixture. Occasional stirring prevents sugar and fruit from scorching on the bottom of the pot.

Swap the currant

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

  1. Limefits better
  2. Lemonfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, pepper, vinegar, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg. 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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