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 Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Boil the pitted cherries until soft.
Bruise the cherries to extract the juice.
Make the jam
Combine the red currant juice and loaf sugar in a separate pot.
Bring the mixture to a boil.
Add the bruised cherries to the boiling mixture.
Sprinkle sifted sugar over the mixture.
Boil everything together rapidly for 30 minutes.
Pot and seal
Pour the jam into pots.
Let the jam cool.
Cover with brandy papers.
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 fruit body and main flavour of the jam.
- Red currant juice
- Adds tartness and natural pectin to help the jam set.
- Loaf sugar
- Sweetens the jam and helps it thicken as it boils down.
- Sifted sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the jam reach a thick, preserved texture.
The step that matters
Boil everything together rapidly for 30 minutes. Rapid boiling drives off water and concentrates the sugar and fruit pectin so the jam sets properly. Too little boiling leaves it runny and more prone to spoiling.
“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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