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 ↓
Bed Currant Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Extract the juice
Place the red currants and water in a shallow pan over medium heat.
Boil for 20 to 25 minutes.
Strain the juice through a flannel jelly bag.
Make the jelly
Return the juice to the pan and add the sugar.
Boil quickly for about 10 minutes, or until the mixture coats the back of a spoon.
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
- Red currants
- Provide the fruit flavour and natural pectin that helps the jelly set.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and, with the pectin, helps the juice gel as it cools.
The step that matters
Boil quickly until it coats a spoon. The jelly sets only when sugar and pectin are concentrated enough. Stopping the boil too early leaves it runny, while boiling too long can make it stiff and tough.
“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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