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Dessert

Currant and Raspberries Sweetmeat

A preserved fruit sweetmeat made from currants, raspberries, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 122,807 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Currant and Raspberries Sweetmeat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Combine equal weights of red currants and raspberries in a bowl.

  2. Add 1 ¾ pounds of sugar to the fruit and cover it.

  3. Let it sit overnight.

Cook and seal

  1. The next day, boil the fruit and sugar mixture slowly for 1 hour, skimming if necessary.

  2. Pour the hot mixture into small jars and seal with egg or brandy paper.

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. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  2. Red currant + sugartop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,156 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Red currant + eggtop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together345 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Red currants
Provide tartness and natural pectin that helps the mixture thicken and set.
Raspberries
Add aroma and fruit flavor, with acidity that balances the sweetness of the sugar.
Sugar
Sweetens the fruit and, as it dissolves and concentrates, helps the mixture thicken and keep.

The step that matters

Boil slowly for the full hour. Sugar and fruit can scorch at high heat. A slow boil lets water evaporate gradually so the mixture thickens and sets rather than burning or staying runny.

Swap the red currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Lemonfits better
  4. Red currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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