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
Prepare the fruit
Mash the raspberries in a pan with a wooden spoon.
Add the sugar to the mashed fruit.
Cook the jam
Boil the mixture hard for 15 to 20 minutes.
Add ripe currants for added flavor and color.
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.
-
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
- Form the fruit base and flavor, with natural pectin and acid that help the jam set.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jam and helps it set and keep its texture.
- Ripe currants
- Add tartness, extra pectin, flavor, and color to the jam.
The step that matters
Boil the mixture hard for 15 to 20 minutes. Boiling evaporates water and concentrates the sugar and fruit pectin. This raises the mixture to the point where it sets when cooled. Undercooking leaves the jam runny, while the timing keeps it from becoming too stiff.
“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.
More raspberry jam recipes
You might also like
Red Currant Jelly65 recipes
Currant Ice Cream32 recipes
Currant Sherbet9 recipes
Currant and Raspberry Ice7 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.