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
Prepare
Pick and discard any unsound strawberries.
Make the jam
Boil the strawberries for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent burning.
Off the heat, mix in the sugar until thoroughly combined.
Boil the mixture quickly for another 30 minutes or until it sets.
Jar
Pour the jam into jars and cover them as usual.
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
- Ripe strawberries
- Provide the main fruit, flavour and pectin-bearing bulk that forms the jam.
- Loaf sugar
- Sweetens the jam and, with boiling, helps it thicken and set.
- Red currant juice
- Adds acidity and extra pectin to help the jam set.
The step that matters
Boiling the mixture quickly after adding the sugar. Once sugar is added, a fast, hard boil drives off water and concentrates the fruit and sugar so the jam reaches setting point. A gentle simmer can leave it runny, while overcooking can make it stiff or caramelised.
“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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