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Dessert

Fine Currant Syrup, or Sirop De Groseilles

A sweet syrup made by extracting juice from ripe red currants and dissolving sugar in it.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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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 ↓

Fine Currant Syrup, or Sirop De Groseilles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the juice

  1. Remove the stems from the currants and express the juice.

  2. Strain the juice into a clean earthen pitcher.

  3. Let the strained juice sit in a cool place for 24 hours.

  4. Pour the juice through a fine sieve without pressing it.

  5. Pass the juice through a jelly bag or closely-woven cloth.

  6. Weigh the juice.

Make the syrup

  1. Add an equal amount of sugar, broken into small pieces.

  2. Dissolve the sugar in the juice.

  3. Pour the mixture into a preserving pan.

  4. Boil gently for 4 to 5 minutes.

  5. Skim off any scum.

Bottle and store

  1. After 12 hours, pour the syrup into small dry bottles.

  2. Cork the bottles.

  3. Store in a cool, dry place.

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. Red currant + sugartop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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

Red currants
Provide the tart juice that gives the syrup its flavour and acidity.
Granulated sugar
Sweetens the juice and, when dissolved and boiled, thickens it into a syrup that keeps well.

The step that matters

Pour the juice through the sieve without pressing it. Pressing forces small solids and pulp through the strainer, leaving the juice cloudy. Letting it drip keeps the syrup clear.

“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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