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
Prepare the juice
Mash the currants without heating and strain through a fine bag.
Measure the juice by pints and place it in a preserving kettle over medium heat.
Cook the jelly
Boil for 15 minutes, skimming carefully.
For each pint of juice, add 1 pound of heated sugar and boil for 10 more minutes.
Pot and seal
Pour into glasses or bowls and seal.
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, natural pectin and acid that allow the jelly to set.
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the jelly and helps the pectin form a firm gel while preserving it.
The step that matters
Adding the sugar and boiling for 10 more minutes. The sugar must be heated so it dissolves without cooling the juice, and the boil must be timed so the sugar, pectin and acid reach the gel point. Undercooking leaves the jelly runny, while overcooking can make it stiff or dull.
“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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