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 ↓
Cherry Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Stone the cherries.
Add the red currant juice and sugar to the cherries.
Boil the mixture briskly until it becomes stiff.
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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Red currant + sugartop 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
- Kentish cherries
- Provide the bulk of the fruit, flavour and body of the jam.
- Red currant juice
- Adds natural acidity and pectin to help the jam set.
- Fine sugar
- Sweetens the jam and helps it thicken as it cooks.
The step that matters
Boil the mixture briskly until it becomes stiff. Brisk boiling drives off water and concentrates the sugar and pectin so the jam sets. Boiling too gently or too briefly leaves it runny, while overcooking can make it sticky and dull in flavour.
“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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