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 ↓
Gooseberry Paste
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the gooseberries
Cut the gooseberries in half and remove all seeds.
Boil the gooseberries in the currant juice until tender.
Make the syrup and combine
In a separate pan, combine the sugar with enough water to dissolve it and boil until it reaches a syrup consistency.
Combine the gooseberry mixture with the sugar syrup and heat until scalding hot, but do not boil.
Set the paste
Pour the mixture into plates or glasses and allow to dry.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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
- Gooseberries
- Provide the fruit body and flavour that the paste is built from.
- Double-refined sugar
- Sweetens the paste and, as it cooks down, helps it set into a firm, sliceable texture.
- Currant juice
- Adds liquid and extra fruit flavour while the gooseberries soften.
The step that matters
Heating the combined mixture without boiling. Bringing the fruit and sugar syrup to scalding hot without a full boil keeps the sugar from over-concentrating and burning, and helps the pectin-rich mixture set evenly as it dries.
“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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