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 ↓
Strawberry Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Combine strawberries and sugar in a pot.
Boil the mixture for about 30 minutes.
Add ½ cup of red currant juice for firmness, along with extra sugar equal to the amount of red currant juice.
If red currant juice is unavailable, use gooseberry juice or add 1-2 tablespoons of sago to help set the jam.
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
- Strawberries
- Provide the fruit flavour and the bulk of the jam.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jam and helps it thicken and keep its set.
- Red currant juice
- Adds natural pectin and acidity to help the jam set firmly.
- Sago
- Thickens the jam as it cooks, helping it set.
The step that matters
Boiling the mixture. Boiling long enough lets the sugar and fruit pectin concentrate and gel as the mixture cools. Undercooked jam stays runny, while overcooking can make it stiff and dull in flavour.
“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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