MOUEEL
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fruitcatty · sulfurous · jammy · green · medicinal

Blackcurrant

Smells faintly of cat and tomcat is the technical term. That thiol is exactly why it is unforgettable.

on its own
5.0sour
2.0sweet
0.0savoury
2.0bitter
0.0umami
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11 of these 34 are wild — theory says yes, nobody has cooked them. why →

34 pairings for Blackcurrant.

Cocoa bitterness meets a berry with its own bitter leaf note. They read as one.

Red wine

classic

Cabernet already smells of it. Adding the fruit back is doubling down, not contrasting.

Identical thiols. The wine literally smells of the fruit, so the loop closes.

Venison

classic

Sharp, sulfurous, tannic. It meets iron on all three counts at once.

Cream

common

Fat mutes the sulfur note and leaves the jam. Most people prefer it that way.

Lamb

common

Green sulfur and lamb fat: the same reason mint sauce works, but darker.

Mint

common

Two green volatiles, one cooling. The berry stops smelling animal.

Liquorice

common

Anethole plus catty thiol is odd on paper and reads as blackcurrant pastille.

Violet

common

Cassis already smells violet; the two together are one aroma at double strength.

Duck

uncommon

Sharper than cherry, and duck skin has the fat to absorb that much acid.

Vodka

uncommon

Neutral spirit carries thiols better than water and adds nothing of its own.

Duck breast

uncommon

Sharp and slightly sulfurous, which is exactly what iron wants.

Sulfurous acid against cooked cream. Sharper than jam, more interesting.

Stout

uncommon

Sharp cassis cuts a heavy pour; the old snakebite trick, with better ingredients.

Both are resinous and faintly medicinal. Together they taste like a hedge in gin.

Sesame

rare

Toasted sesame thiols and blackcurrant thiols are cousins. Sweet, dark and odd.

Guava

rare

Catty sulfur in both. Put them together and the guava turns unexpectedly dark.

Both carry sulfurous-fruity thiols. The cassis note is already in the cabbage.

Sulfury cassis needs the camphor to stop it smelling like cough syrup.

Cassis is sharp and sulfurous at once. It meets liver on both counts.

Cassis is sharp and slightly sulfurous, which is what stops iron lingering.

Cassis thiols and rind sulfur come from the same family, oddly enough.

Sulfurous cassis against linalool; two aggressive aromas cancelling each other out.

Both run on methoxypyrazine — the same green stalkiness, one sweet, one savoury.

Cubeb

wild

Both hold sulphury-green terpenes; the fruit stops smelling of jam.

Sulphury-green fruit under warm phenol; the jam stops tasting like jam.

Beef

wild

Cassis thiols mirror grill char; a wine pairing you can chew instead of sip.

Shared pigment and shared sulfury-fruit note. Push it and they merge.

Sulfury berry against peppery seed: two loud things that stop shouting together.

Cassis and raw mushroom both carry sulfur thiols. Tastes hunted.

Tamari

wild

Both carry a sulfurous cassis note nobody admits to. Reduce them together.

Both push a sulfurous green top note. Cassis and Dijon share a postcode.

Cassis has the sulfur and tannin to sit inside a meat reduction, not beside it.

Both are resinous and both are divisive. Doubling down works better than softening.