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 ↓
Fine Black Currant Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Extract the juice
Stir black currants over medium heat until they release their juice.
Strain the juice and weigh it.
Cook the jelly
Boil the juice for 20 minutes.
Add 3 ½ lbs of hot sifted sugar and stir until dissolved.
Boil the jelly for 5 minutes, skimming off any scum.
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 juice, natural pectin and acidity that help the jelly set and give it its tart flavor.
- Sifted sugar
- Sweetens the jelly and helps it set, thicken and keep its texture.
The step that matters
Dissolving the sugar fully before the final boil. Sugar left undissolved can form crystals, leaving the jelly grainy. Stirring until the sugar is fully dissolved in the hot juice before the final boil gives a smooth, clear set.
“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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