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Currant Syrup

Currant syrup is made by mashing currants, extracting juice, boiling with sugar until thickened, and preserving with oil.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Red currant and sugar 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 ↓

Currant Syrup

Ingredients

Directions

Extract the juice

  1. Mash the currants in a glass bowl with a wooden masher.

  2. Cover the bowl and let it stand for three hours.

  3. Strain the mixture through a woolen bag.

  4. Measure the juice and pour it into a glass boiler.

Make the syrup

  1. Add 1 pint of sugar for each pint of juice.

  2. Boil until reduced to a clear syrup, skimming as needed.

  3. Remove from heat and let it cool.

Bottle and store

  1. Pour into small bottles and add a little oil on top to preserve.

  2. Store the bottles upright in a dry cupboard.

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. Red currant + sugartop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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

Red currants
Provide the juice and the tart, fruity flavour of the syrup.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and, once boiled down, thickens the syrup and helps it keep.
Oil
Forms a thin layer on the surface that limits contact with air.

The step that matters

Boil until reduced to a clear syrup. Boiling drives off water and concentrates the sugar, which thickens the syrup and makes it less prone to spoiling. Stopping too early leaves it thin and more likely to ferment, while overcooking can make it too thick or sticky.

“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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