Why it works: Black currant and sugar work together. They rank in the top 22% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 393 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Best Black Currant Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Stew the black currants in their own juice until tender, about 15 minutes.
Rub the stewed currants through a sieve to create a pulp.
Stir in the sugar gradually off the heat until dissolved.
Boil the mixture gently for 10 to 15 minutes until thickened.
Allow to cool; the jam will firm up as it cools.
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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Black currant + sugartop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together393 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Black currants
- Provide the fruit, pectin and tartness that form the jam's body and flavour.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jam and helps it set and keep by binding water and thickening the mixture.
The step that matters
Stirring in the sugar off the heat. Adding sugar gradually off the heat lets it dissolve fully before boiling. Undissolved sugar can crystallise and leave a gritty texture in the finished 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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