Why it works: Currant and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,057 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Currant Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Extract the juice
Strip currants from the stalks and place them in a stone jar.
Seal the jar and set it in a kettle of boiling water, halfway up the jar, for 30 minutes.
Remove the jar and strain the juice through a coarse sieve.
Make the jelly
In a preserving pan, combine the juice with 1 pound of sugar over medium heat, stirring until the sugar melts.
Skim off any scum that rises until the jelly is clear.
Pour the jelly into jars and let it cool.
Cover and store
Cut white paper to fit the jars, dip in brandy, and cover the jelly, pricking holes in the paper. Store in a dry place.
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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Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,057 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,939 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Currant + lemontop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,270 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Lemon + brandytop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,351 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Currants
- Provide the main fruit flavour and the natural pectin and acid that help the jelly set.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and, with the fruit's pectin and acid, helps the juice gel as it cooks.
The step that matters
Skimming the scum until the jelly is clear. Foam that rises during cooking contains impurities and cloudiness. Removing it as it forms keeps the jelly clear and bright rather than dull or murky.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (currant, sugar, brandy):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against currant, sugar, brandy. 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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