Ingredient

Sultanas

A sultana is dried from a pale seedless grape and is softer, sweeter and juicier than a raisin. It plumps faster when soaked and it melts more readily into a batter, which is why British baking calls for sultanas far more often than for raisins.

Why it is pale and soft

Sultanas come from white grapes rather than dark ones, so there is no anthocyanin to darken them. Many are also treated with sulphur dioxide before drying, which prevents the enzymatic browning that would otherwise turn them the colour of a raisin.

The grapes used have thinner skins and a higher sugar-to-acid ratio, which produces a softer, sweeter dried fruit that absorbs liquid faster.

Untreated sultanas are perfectly good and simply darker — closer to a light brown than to gold. The colour is cosmetic and says nothing about quality.

Sultana against raisin against currant

Texture

Sultana softest, raisin chewiest, currant firmest and smallest.

Sweetness

Sultana sweetest, currant the most tart.

Soaking

A sultana plumps in about ten minutes; a raisin takes twenty or more.

In baking

Sultanas suit scones, teabread, bread-and-butter pudding and anything where softness matters. Raisins suit denser, longer-baked things.

Sulphites

Most golden sultanas are sulphite-treated, and it is declared on the packet as an allergen.

Where they are specifically right

• Scones and rock cakes, where softness matters and a chewy raisin would be intrusive.
• Bread-and-butter pudding, where they plump in the custard.
• Teabread and malt loaf, soaked in tea overnight.
• Curries and pilafs, particularly Persian and Mughal dishes, where they are fried in ghee before the rice.
• Bread sauce and stuffings, where they collapse and sweeten the mixture.
• With cabbage or red cabbage, braised, where they balance vinegar.
• Soaked in white wine or verjuice and scattered over a fish dish, particularly with pine nuts.
• In a marinade or a dressing, plumped in warm vinegar and then chopped, where they behave as a sweet counterweight to something sharp.
• Baked into a savoury tart with onions and thyme, where the sweetness reads as depth rather than as sugar.

Getting them right in a bake

1. Soak in warm liquid for ten to fifteen minutes. Tea, apple juice, rum and plain water all work.
2. Drain and pat dry properly. Any surface water goes straight into the batter.
3. Toss in a spoonful of the recipe's flour so they hold their position in the crumb.
4. Fold them in at the last moment. Beating them into the batter breaks them up and greys the mixture.
5. If the sultanas are already soft and glossy from a fresh packet, skip the soaking entirely — over-soaked fruit turns to mush.

Common questions