Why it works: Red currant and white currant share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, pear. The science ↓
Red Currant Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Extract the juice
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Place the red and white currants in an earthenware jar and bake until all the juice is extracted.
Strain the juice and measure it.
Make the jelly
For each pint of juice, add 1 pound of lump sugar and stir until it boils.
Once boiling, add ½ cup of cold water.
Boil for about 20 minutes, skimming off any scum that rises.
Test the jelly by running a little on a cold plate to see if it sets.
When clear and set, pour the jelly into small molds.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + white curranttop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together4 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
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Red currant + sugartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,156 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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White currant + sugartop 29% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together59 recipes
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Red currants
- Provide the main fruit juice that gives the jelly its flavour and tartness.
- White currants
- Add juice and natural pectin to help the jelly set.
- Lump sugar
- Sweetens the jelly and, with the fruit's pectin and acid, helps it set firm.
The step that matters
Boiling the juice with sugar until it sets. Pectin, acid and sugar must reach the right concentration to gel. Boiling too little leaves the jelly runny, while boiling too long can make it dull and tough. Testing on a cold plate shows whether it is ready.
Swap the white currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (red currant, sugar):
- Raspberryfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Blueberryfits better
- White currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against red currant, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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