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 Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Gather currants on a dry day, free from dust.
Strip the currants from the stalks carefully and weigh them.
Cook the jam
Combine the currants with the powdered sugar in a preserving pan.
Stir gently over a brisk fire and boil for exactly 8 minutes from the first full boil.
Do not fill the pan more than two-thirds full to prevent overflow.
If necessary, lift the pan from the fire briefly to control boiling.
For a sweeter jam, use equal weights of fruit and sugar and boil for 7 minutes.
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
- Red currants
- Provide the fruit, pectin and tart acidity that give the jam its flavour and set.
- Fine sugar
- Sweetens the jam and, with the fruit's acid and pectin, helps it thicken and set.
The step that matters
Boil for exactly 8 minutes from the first full boil. Timing starts only at a full rolling boil. Boiling too briefly can leave the jam runny, while overcooking darkens its colour and flavour and can make it stiff. Sugar concentration rises as water evaporates, so timing matters for the set.
“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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