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 ↓
Four-fruit Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the juice
Mix the strawberries, raspberries, currants, and stoned red cherries together.
Place the fruit in a linen bag and squeeze thoroughly to extract the juice.
Measure the juice; for every 1 pint, use 1 pound and 2 ounces of sugar.
Make the jelly
Combine the juice and sugar in a preserving kettle.
Boil the mixture for half an hour, skimming frequently.
To test, hold a spoonful of jelly in the open air; if it congeals readily, it is done.
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.
-
Currant + sugartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jelly and, with the fruit juice, helps it set as it cooks.
- Strawberries
- Provide the main fruit flavor and natural pectin-bearing juice for the jelly.
- Currants
- Add tartness and natural pectin to help the jelly set.
The step that matters
Testing for set. Boiling drives off water and concentrates sugar and pectin so the jelly sets when cooled. Judging doneness by a cold spoonful in open air, rather than by time alone, helps avoid a runny or overly stiff result.
“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.
You might also like
Red Currant Jelly65 recipes
Currant Ice Cream32 recipes
Currant Sherbet9 recipes
Currant and Raspberry Ice7 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.