Why it works: Sugar and white currant work together. They rank in the top 29% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 59 recipes. The science ↓
Strawberry Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Weigh the hulled strawberries.
Boil them for 35 minutes, stirring constantly.
Add 3 lbs of finely beaten sugar to the strawberries and mix well off the heat.
Boil the mixture again quickly for 25 minutes.
For improved flavor, add 1 lb of white currant juice at the beginning.
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 + white curranttop 29% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together59 recipes
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Strawberries
- Provide the fruit, pectin and flavor that form the jam's body and taste.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jam and helps it set into a spreadable texture.
- White currant juice
- Adds extra flavor to the jam; optional.
The step that matters
Stirring while the strawberries boil. Strawberries scorch easily on the bottom of the pan, which gives the jam a burnt taste. Constant stirring spreads the heat evenly during the 35-minute boil.
“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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