Why it works: Sugar and red currant 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 ↓
Cherry Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Weigh the cherries before pitting them.
For every 6 lbs. of cherries, use 1 pint of red currant juice and 3 lbs. of sugar.
Cook the jam
Boil the pitted cherries in a preserving pan until most of the juice has evaporated.
Add the crushed sugar and red currant juice to the cherries.
Boil the mixture until it reaches a jelly consistency, about 20 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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Sugar + red curranttop 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
- Cherries
- Provide the fruit and bulk of the jam, with their juice reducing to a concentrated base.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jam and, as it concentrates, helps it set to a jelly-like consistency.
- Red currant juice
- Adds acidity and natural pectin to help the jam thicken and set.
The step that matters
Boiling to a jelly consistency. Sugar and acid help pectin form a gel only at the right concentration. Boiling too briefly leaves the jam runny, while overboiling can make it stiff or caramelised. Checking for a jelly-like texture guards against both.
“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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