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 ↓
Cherry Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the juice
Combine the pitted cherries and red currants in a bowl.
Extract the juice from the fruits and filter it.
Make the jelly
Mix the juice with ¾ pound of clarified sugar and 1 ounce of isinglass.
Place the mixture in a pot over heat and add 1 pound of sugar.
Boil the mixture a few times until it thickens.
Pour the jelly into containers and let it cool.
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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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
- Cherries
- Provide the main fruit flavour and the body of the jelly.
- Red currants
- Add tartness and natural pectin to help the jelly set.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jelly and helps it set firm as it thickens.
- Isinglass
- Gelling agent that sets the juice into a firm jelly as it cools.
The step that matters
Boiling until it thickens. Boiling concentrates the sugar and fruit juice so the gelling agent can set properly. Too little boiling leaves the jelly runny, while overcooking can make it tough or cloudy.
“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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