Why it works: Sugar and white currant work together. They rank in the top 29% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 59 recipes. The science ↓
Strawberry Jellt
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the juice
Remove the stems from the strawberries and bruise them slightly.
Stir the strawberries over a gentle fire for a few minutes.
Strain the mixture without pressure and weigh the juice.
Make the jelly
In a preserving pan, boil the juice quickly for 20 minutes.
Stir in 3 lbs of sugar for every pound of juice until dissolved.
Boil again quickly for 20 minutes, skimming off any scum.
Pour the preserve into jars or glasses.
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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Sugar + white curranttop 29% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together59 recipes
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Strawberries
- Provide the main fruit flavor and natural pectin and acid that help the jelly set.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and, with boiling, helps the juice thicken and set into a preserve.
- Currant juice
- Adds extra acidity and pectin, helping the jelly set and adding a tart flavor.
The step that matters
Boiling the juice with sugar. Sugar must dissolve fully before the second boil, and the mixture must reach a rolling boil for the right time. Too little boiling leaves the jelly runny, 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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