Why it works: Currant and sugar 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 ↓
Currant Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the juice
Wash the currants thoroughly.
Place them in a preserving kettle and mash them.
Boil for 30 minutes or until fully cooked.
Strain the mixture through a cheesecloth, squeezing out all the juice.
Make the jelly
Measure the juice and for each pint, use 1 pound of granulated sugar.
Boil the juice rapidly for 15 minutes.
Add the sugar and boil rapidly for 5 more minutes.
Skim off any foam, then pour into jelly tumblers.
Cover with melted paraffin and seal with white paper tied over each glass.
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.
-
Currant + sugartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,256 recipes
Currant and sugar 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
- Currants
- Provide the natural pectin and acid that let the juice set into jelly.
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the jelly and helps it set firm when boiled with the juice.
The step that matters
Boil the juice rapidly with the sugar. Sugar must be added to juice that has already been boiled, and the mixture must reach a full rolling boil. Pectin and sugar need this heat and concentration to gel properly, so a weak boil can leave the jelly runny.
“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 currant jelly recipes
You might also like
Currant Ice Cream32 recipes
Currant Sherbet9 recipes
Currant and Raspberry Ice7 recipes
White Cake431 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.