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Currant Preserve

A sweet preserve made from currants, their juice, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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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 ↓

Currant Preserve

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Clip off the heads and stalks of the currants.

Make the preserve

  1. Combine the juice, currants, and sugar in a preserving pan.

  2. Shake frequently until it boils.

  3. Carefully remove the fruit from the sides of the pan and skim off the scum as it rises.

  4. Let it boil for 10 to 15 minutes.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Currant + sugartop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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

Currants
Provide the fruit body and tart flavor that the preserve is built around.
Loaf sugar
Sweetens the preserve and helps it set and keep by drawing out water.
Rod currant juice
Supplies liquid and extra currant acidity for a bright, fruity flavor.

The step that matters

Removing the fruit from the sides and skimming the scum. Fruit and sugar stuck to the hot pan sides can scorch and taste burnt, and scum left in the preserve can cloud it and spoil its clean flavor. Removing both keeps the preserve clear and fresh-tasting.

“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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