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Dessert

Spiced Currants

A preserved fruit dish of currants simmered with sugar, vinegar, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Spiced Currants

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine currants, brown sugar, cider vinegar, allspice, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon in a large pot.

  2. Bring to a boil over medium heat.

  3. Boil for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Allspice + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Allspice + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Currants
Provide the fruit base and natural pectin that thickens the preserve as it cooks.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and bulk, and helps set the thick, glossy texture as the mixture reduces.
Cider vinegar
Adds acidity that balances the sweetness and brightens the fruit flavor.
Allspice
Contributes warm, aromatic spice notes that deepen the flavor.
Cloves
Add strong, aromatic warmth that flavors the sauce throughout the long simmer.

The step that matters

Boil for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. A long simmer is what thickens the mixture, as water evaporates and the fruit's pectin and sugar concentrate. Stirring prevents scorching on the bottom of the pot.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, cider, vinegar, allspice, clove, nutmeg, cinnamon):

  1. Applefits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Quincefits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cider, vinegar, allspice, clove, nutmeg, cinnamon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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