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 ↓
To Preserve Cherries
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cherries
If desired, remove the stones from the cherries carefully to keep them whole.
Make the syrup
In a pot, combine the cherries, red currant juice, and sugar. Boil and skim as for jelly.
After boiling for 20 minutes, add the cherries to the pot.
When the mixture comes to a boil, set it aside for 15 minutes.
Repeat the boiling and resting process three or four times.
Jar and seal
Transfer the cherries to glasses or wide-mouthed bottles.
Boil the syrup for an additional 15 minutes and pour it over the cherries.
Seal the jars with bladder and leather or cork and seal.
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 that is kept whole and preserved in the syrup.
- Red currant juice
- Adds tart, fruity flavour and acidity to the syrup.
- Granulated sugar
- Thickens the syrup and preserves the fruit by drawing out water.
The step that matters
Repeated boiling and resting of the cherries in the syrup. Sugar must slowly penetrate the fruit so it stays firm and whole. Repeated short boiling and resting cycles let syrup soak in gradually, while a single hard boil would shrink or break the cherries.
“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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