Why it works: Sugar and white currant work together. They rank in the top 29% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 59 recipes. The science ↓
Strawberry Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Boil the hulled strawberries in a pot for 35 minutes, stirring constantly.
Add 3 lbs of sugar and mix well off the heat.
Return to heat and boil the mixture quickly for 25 minutes.
For improved flavor, add 1 lb of white currant juice at the beginning.
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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Sugar + white curranttop 29% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together59 recipes
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Strawberries
- Provide the fruit base, along with natural pectin and flavor for the jam.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jam and helps it thicken and set as it boils.
- White currant juice
- Adds extra fruit flavor and acidity, which can brighten the jam.
The step that matters
Returning the sugar mixture to a quick, hard boil. Sugar must dissolve fully before reheating, and a brisk boil is needed so the jam reaches the concentration for setting without overcooking the fruit into a dull, dark result.
“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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