Why it works: Sugar and currant 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 ↓
Raspberry Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Weigh equal amounts of raspberries and sugar.
Make the jam
Place the raspberries in a preserving pan and boil, stirring constantly until broken down.
Let it boil quickly until most of the juice is evaporated.
Add the sugar and simmer for 30 minutes.
Alternative method
For an alternative method, place raspberries in a jar in a kettle of water until the juice runs out.
Remove ¼ pint of juice for every pound of fruit, then boil and mash for 30 minutes.
Add the same weight of sugar and currant juice, then boil until it reaches a strong jelly consistency.
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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Sugar + curranttop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,256 recipes
Sugar and currant 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
- Raspberries
- Provide the fruit, pectin-bearing pulp and flavour that form the body of the jam.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jam and helps it set and keep by binding water.
- Currant juice
- Adds natural pectin and acidity to help the jam reach a firm set.
The step that matters
Boiling until most of the juice evaporates. Concentrating the fruit by evaporation before adding sugar reduces water content, so the jam can reach a firm set rather than staying runny.
“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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