Why it works: Currant and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 26% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,256 recipes. The science ↓
Good Red or White Raspberry Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Boil the fruit
Boil the raspberries and currant juice in a large pot for 20 minutes.
Add sugar and finish
Remove the pot from heat and stir in the sugar until dissolved.
Return the pot to the heat and boil for an additional 10 minutes.
Skim off any foam and stir the mixture continuously.
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 + sugartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,256 recipes
Currant and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,256 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
- Raspberries
- Provide the main fruit flavor, body and color of the jam.
- Currant juice
- Adds natural pectin and acidity that help the jam thicken and set.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and, with boiling, helps the jam set and keep.
The step that matters
Boiling after the sugar is added. Sugar must dissolve fully before the final boil. The extra boil evaporates water so the sugar and fruit pectin reach the concentration needed to gel. Stopping too early leaves a runny jam.
“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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