One of many fruits in our perennial meals yard is Black Currants. All of the berries are coming in right here, and it will get fairly intimidating.
Thankfully, my pal Becky knowledgeable me that in case you wait till they’re all ripe, you may reduce the branches that maintain the currants, as a result of they develop on new progress subsequent yr. That approach, I can reduce the entire thing and harvest it . Comfortably, as an alternative of doing what I name “Berry Yoga” which entails stretching and squatting within the scorching, scorching solar.
That will get one of many berries out of the best way in a single fell swoop. The gooseberries, blueberries, and raspberries are all on the market proper this minute, giving me a guilt advanced.
I made a decision to make jam with the currants this yr. I’ve bought plenty of cordials and tincture, and gave some away, nevertheless it was time to make use of them for meals. Subsequent yr can be onerous sweet.
I regarded up a whole lot of completely different recipes, mixed all of them, and got here up with this:
BLACK CURRANT JAM
1 quart of currants (conveniently precisely what I had)
1.5 C water
3.5 C sugar
2 T lemon juice
~Warmth the berries and water to a boil in a 3 quart saucepan. Enable them to simmer for a number of minutes to get the currants mushy and get the juices operating.
~As soon as they’ve softened, add the sugar and lemon juice, and stir nicely to make certain the sugar is dissolved.
~Proceed heating at a great simmer till the combination reaches 220 levels.
Be aware: A pal stopped by whereas I used to be within the closing simmer stage, so mine simmered a great 20 minutes – longer than vital – nevertheless it turned out nice.
This makes 5.5 to six cups of jam. I made a mistake and did not have the fitting jars available. Which means I froze 4 small 1/2 cup containers.
I did not course of the jam as a result of we’ll be utilizing it inside just a few months and it’ll preserve nicely within the fridge. If you wish to, this has a excessive acid content material, so it should do nicely in a water tub.
Now to make some scones.
The currant jam is a scrumptious, distinctive, and considerably strongly flavored unfold. I am imagining the small parts within the freezer can be used for recipes (each candy and savory) over the approaching yr.