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| Huge blackcurrants |
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In my back garden I have 2 blackcurrant bushes, which have decided to give me a bumper crop of blackcurrants this year. I do mean bumper, I picked 2.5 kg of berries this morning, and the biggest ones were ginormous!!
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Lots & lots of jam!
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I love homemade jam, particularly blackcurrant as because of its high pectin content, you can add much less sugar and it will still set. I use a ratio of fruit to sugar of 1:1, but reserve about 1/4 of the fruit until the very end of the process, so each jar has lovely whole berries mixed in. I don't add any water, just allow the fruit and sugar to heat together, and all the natural juice dissolves the sugar. No added water means no need to boil it for ages to achieve a good set, just a good rolling boil for 5 minutes, add the reserved whole berries, allow to come back to the boil and then take off the heat and pot up. (Fruit such as strawberries have less pectin so for those I use sugar with added pectin, and a squeeze of lemon juice too)
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| Look who nearly got made into jam!! Teeny tiny snail!! |
I also produced some homemade Ribena, by boiling up equal amounts of berries, water and sugar until the berries have broken down. Then it was sieved, and poured into bottles. This will be kept in the fridge for the short time it takes my menfolk to drink it all!! ~ it is lovely!!
Blackcurrants are my favourite berries. My grandmother used to grow them in her garden and whenever I eat blackcurrants I have to think of her.
ReplyDeleteYou must try blackcurrant jam on cream cheese, it tastes divine.
Oh, that sounds lovely Franziska. Will definitely give that a try.
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