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 filtered juice with ¾ pound of clarified sugar and 1 ounce of isinglass.
Place the mixture in a pot over heat and add 1½ pounds of boiled sugar.
Boil the mixture a few times, then pour it into containers.
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 flavor and most of the juice for the jelly.
- Red currants
- Add tartness and extra pectin-rich juice to support a firm set.
- Isinglass
- Gelatin-like protein that sets the juice into a firm, tender jelly.
- Clarified sugar
- Sweetens the jelly and helps it hold its shape as it sets.
- Boiled sugar
- Adds sweetness and body, thickening the jelly as it cooks down.
The step that matters
Boiling the mixture. Boiling only a few times must be enough to dissolve the sugars and isinglass fully without over-reducing. Too little heat leaves the jelly unset, while too much boiling can make it stiff, sticky, 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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