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 Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Make the jam
Mash the raspberries in a preserving kettle.
Add the white sugar and currant juice.
Boil gently until the mixture jellies on a cold plate.
Jar and store
Pour into small jars.
Cover with brandied paper and tie thick white paper over the jars.
Store in a dark, dry, and cool place.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Sugar + curranttop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Raspberries
- Provide the main fruit flavour, colour and body of the jam.
- White sugar
- Sweetens the jam and, with the fruit's pectin and acid, helps it set as it cooks.
- Currant juice
- Adds acidity and natural pectin to help the jam gel.
The step that matters
Boil gently until the mixture jellies on a cold plate. Setting depends on sugar concentration and pectin reacting with acid as water evaporates. Undercooked jam stays runny and may spoil, while overcooking can make it stiff or dull in flavour. A cold plate test shows when it has reached the gel point.
“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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