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 ↓
Cherry Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Pit the cherries and place them in a large pot.
Add the red currant juice and fine sugar to the pot.
Cook
Boil the mixture briskly until it thickens.
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
- Kentish cherries
- Provide the main fruit body, flavor, and bulk of the jam.
- Red currant juice
- Adds tartness and acidity and natural pectin that helps the jam set.
- Fine sugar
- Adds sweetness and binds water so the jam thickens and keeps well.
The step that matters
Boil the mixture briskly until it thickens. Boiling drives off water so sugar and fruit pectin reach the concentration needed to gel. Stopping too early leaves a runny jam, while overcooking can make it stiff and dull in flavor.
“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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