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To Preserve Red Currants in Bunches

A method of preserving red currants in syrup and storing them in jars.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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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 Red Currants in Bunches

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the syrup

  1. Tie the bunches of red currants to a cane.

  2. Squeeze juice from the currants and dissolve the sugar in it.

  3. Boil the mixture and skim off any foam.

Boil and dip the currants

  1. Hold the bunches in the syrup for 2–3 minutes.

  2. Spread the bunches on a dish.

  3. Repeat until all bunches have been boiled once.

  4. Add more sugar to the syrup and boil again.

  5. Dip the currants in the syrup.

  6. Lay the dipped currants on a dish.

  7. Continue dipping until all currants are done.

Pot and store

  1. Place the currants in jars, filling them with syrup.

  2. Cover with a brandy‑dipped paper.

  3. Store in a dry place.

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. Red currant + sugartop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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

Red currants
Provide the fruit that is preserved and keeps its shape in the syrup.
Red currant juice
Supplies the liquid base that dissolves the sugar into a syrup.
Lump sugar
Sweetens and thickens the syrup, helping preserve the fruit.

The step that matters

Boiling the syrup and skimming the foam. Sugar must dissolve fully and the syrup must reach a steady boil so it concentrates and preserves the fruit. Foam left on the surface can cloud the syrup and spoil the look and keeping quality of the preserve.

“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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