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 ↓
Black Currant Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Bruise and mash the black currants in a preserving pan over medium heat.
Add the pounded sugar and stir frequently.
Once it boils, skim off any foam and let it boil for ten 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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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 pulp, flavour and natural pectin that set the jam.
- Loaf sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the jam set and keep by drawing out moisture.
The step that matters
Boiling and skimming. Once the mixture boils, it must be boiled hard for the full ten minutes and foam skimmed off. Sugar and fruit need enough heat and time to reach a set, and skimming removes foam that can cloud the 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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