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
Ingredients
Directions
Extract the juice
Fill a jar with currants and place it in a kettle of boiling water.
When the juice is expelled, strain it through a cloth.
Make the jelly
For every pint of juice, add 1 pound of white sugar.
Boil for 10 minutes, skimming until the jelly is clear.
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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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
- Currants
- Provide the juice that, with sugar, sets into the jelly and gives its flavour.
- White sugar
- Sweetens the juice and helps it set into a firm, spreadable jelly.
The step that matters
Skimming while boiling. Foam and impurities rise to the surface as the juice boils with sugar. Skimming them off keeps the jelly clear and prevents a cloudy, off-flavoured 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.
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