Skip to main content
Dessert

Superlative Red Currant Jelly

A jelly made by boiling red currants with powdered sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

Superlative Red Currant Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Strip the currants from their stems carefully.

  2. Mix the currants with an equal weight of powdered sugar.

Cook

  1. Boil the mixture quickly for exactly 8 minutes, stirring constantly.

  2. Skim off the abundant scum as it rises.

Strain and store

  1. Pour the mixture through a clean sieve into small jars to collect the jelly.

  2. Store the jars in a cool, dry place until completely cold.

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 natural pectin and tart acidity that give the jelly its set and flavour.
Powdered sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the jelly thicken and keep well as it sets.

The step that matters

Boil quickly for exactly 8 minutes. Boiling briefly and vigorously helps the pectin and sugar reach a set without over-darkening or over-thickening the jelly. Stirring constantly prevents the sugar from scorching on the bottom of the pan.

“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.

You might also like

Currant Ice CreamCurrant Ice Cream32 recipesCurrant SherbetCurrant Sherbet9 recipesCurrant and Raspberry IceCurrant and Raspberry Ice7 recipesWhite CakeWhite Cake431 recipes