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
Strip currants into a stone jar and cover it.
Place the jar in a kettle of warm water and boil for one hour over moderate heat.
Pass a linen or flannel jelly bag through hot water, wring it dry, and pour the currant juice into the bag, securing it to the table with a dish underneath.
Do not squeeze the bag.
Once the juice has drained, measure it.
Make the jelly
For each quart of juice, weigh one pound of white sugar.
In a porcelain kettle, boil the juice once without sugar.
Remove from heat and gradually add the crushed sugar while the juice is hot.
Pour the jelly into tumblers.
Seal and store
Cover with thin paper cut to size, and paste white paper on the outside to exclude air.
Store in a dry, 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.
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
- Provide the juice and natural pectin that set the jelly.
- White sugar
- Sweetens the juice and helps it set into a firm, spreadable jelly.
The step that matters
Do not squeeze the bag. Squeezing forces solids and pulp through the cloth, which makes the jelly cloudy and can add bitter flavor. Letting the juice drip slowly keeps it clear.
“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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