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Raspberry and Currant Juice

A fruit juice made from black raspberries, red currants, cold water, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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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 ↓

Raspberry and Currant Juice

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fruit

  1. Wash the currants in a colander and drain well, removing bruised or discolored ones.

  2. Check the raspberries for stems and leaves; ensure they are not overripe.

Make the juice

  1. Combine the black raspberries and red currants in a porcelain kettle with cold water.

  2. Heat slowly and skim as soon as it boils.

  3. Stir in the sugar and skim again; cook over low heat for 5 minutes.

  4. Strain the mixture through a coarse cloth and return to the kettle.

  5. Heat gradually until boiling, skimming if necessary.

Store

  1. If not using immediately, pour into glass cans while hot and store in a dark place.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Red currant + sugartop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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

Black raspberries
Provide the main flavor and color of the juice.
Red currants
Add tartness and acidity that balances the sweetness.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the fruit's tartness.

The step that matters

Skimming the foam as the mixture heats. Foam rises as the fruit heats and proteins and pulp float to the surface. Removing it early keeps the juice clear and free of off-flavors that would otherwise be stirred back in.

“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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