Why it works: Red currant and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 26% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,156 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Red Currant Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the juice
Strip the currants and place them in jars or pans.
Bake the currants until soft.
Strain the juice through a sieve.
Make the jelly
In a pot, combine 1 pint of the juice with 1 pound of sugar.
Heat the mixture over medium heat until boiling.
Gradually add the sugar while stirring continuously.
Once all the sugar is added, continue stirring until the mixture is ready to jelly.
Pour the jelly into small jars.
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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Red currant + sugartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,156 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Red currants
- Provide natural pectin and acid that help the juice set into a gel.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the juice and helps it set firm while preserving it.
The step that matters
Stirring until the mixture is ready to jelly. Sugar, pectin and acid must reach the right concentration to set. Stopping too early leaves the jelly runny, while cooking too long can make it stiff or grainy as it thickens.
“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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