Why it works: Sugar and currant 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 ↓
Baspberry Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Mash the raspberries well in a preserving kettle.
Add the white sugar and currant juice, then mix thoroughly.
Cook and jar
Boil gently until the mixture jellies on a cold plate.
Pour into small jars and cover with brandy paper.
Tie a thick white paper over the jars.
Store
Store in a dark, dry, and cool place.
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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Sugar + curranttop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,256 recipes
Sugar and currant 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
- Fine red raspberries
- Provide the main fruit flavor and bulk of the jam.
- White sugar
- Sweetens the jam and helps it set into a gel as it cooks.
- Currant juice
- Adds extra natural pectin and acidity to help the jam jell.
The step that matters
Boil gently until the mixture jellies on a cold plate. Jam sets when enough sugar and pectin are concentrated by cooking. Undercooked jam stays runny, while overcooking can make it stiff and dull. Testing on a cold plate shows when the set is ready.
“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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