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 ↓
Strawberry Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Bruise the strawberries and place them in a preserving pan.
Add about ⅕ cup of red currant juice.
Sprinkle nearly their weight in sifted lump sugar over the strawberries.
Cook
Boil quickly for 15 minutes.
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
- Strawberries
- Provide the main fruit flavour and body of the jam.
- Red currant juice
- Adds extra acidity and natural pectin to help the jam set.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jam and helps it set and keep by binding water.
The step that matters
Boil quickly for 15 minutes. Fast boiling evaporates water and concentrates the sugar and fruit pectin so the jam sets. Boiling too gently or too long can leave it runny or cause the sugar to darken and taste caramelised.
“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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