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Currant Jelly Without Cooking

A jelly made from currants and sugar, set without cooking.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 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 Jelly Without Cooking

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the juice

  1. Pick currants from stems.

  2. Wash the currants, ensuring no water remains.

  3. Press out the juice.

  4. Strain the juice.

Add the sugar

  1. For every pint of juice, add 1 pound of sugar.

  2. Stir until the sugar is dissolved.

Rest the mixture

  1. Pour the mixture into jars and seal.

  2. Place the jars in the hot sun for 2-3 days.

  3. Alternatively, store the juice in a cool place for 24 hours.

Finish and jar

  1. Remove any froth.

  2. Strain the mixture through a jelly bag.

  3. Weigh the juice and add an equal weight of powdered sugar.

  4. Stir until dissolved.

  5. Pour into jars and cover tightly.

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
Their natural pectin and acidity help the juice set into a firm jelly.
Fine white sugar
Sweetens the jelly and helps it set and keep well in the jar.

The step that matters

Stir until the sugar is fully dissolved. Undissolved sugar grains can later crystallize or stay gritty in the jelly, and they can prevent an even, smooth set. Dissolving the sugar fully before resting ensures a clear, uniform texture.

“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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