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 Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Weigh and hull the strawberries.
Cook the jam
Boil the strawberries for 35 minutes, stirring constantly.
Add 3 lbs of sugar and mix well off the heat.
Boil the mixture again quickly for 25 minutes.
Variation
For a variation, use 4 lbs of strawberries and 1 lb of white currant juice, boil for 30 to 35 minutes, then add 2½ lbs of sugar and boil for 25 minutes.
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
- Supply the fruit, flavour and natural pectin that help the jam thicken and set.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and binds water so the jam thickens and keeps well.
The step that matters
Boil the mixture again quickly for 25 minutes. Sugar and fruit pectin need a hard, sustained boil to reach the gel point. Boiling too briefly leaves the jam runny, while boiling too long darkens the colour and dulls the fresh fruit flavour.
“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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