Recipe - Blackcurrant Jam?

JG1

Does anyone have a simple recipe for blackcurrant jam?? Picked some blackcurrants today and thought jam would be the best use for them.

kerash

Oh! I used to make blackcurrant jam with my granny when i was a kid - brings back lovely memories:) I found this recipe; http://thefoody.com/mrsbpreserve/blackcurrantjam.html

Blackcurrants
To every 450g (1lb) of Fruit, weighed before being stripped from the stalks, allow:
340g (12oz) Sugar
150ml (¼ pint) Water

Let the fruit be very ripe and gathered on a dry day.
Remove blackcurrant stalks and put into a preserving pan, with 150ml (¼ pint) of water to each 450g (1lb) of fruit.
Boil together for 10 minutes.
Add the sugar and boil the jam again for 30 minutes, from the time when the jam simmers equally all over or longer,
If it doesn't appear to set nicely when a little is poured on to a plate.
Keep stirring to prevent it from burning, carefully remove all the scum and when done.
Pour into sterilised jars with airtight lids.
Let it cool before sealing.
Great attention must be paid to the stirring of this jam, as it is very liable to burn, on account of the thickness of the juice.

Time: 10 minutes to boil the fruit and water. 30 minutes with the sugar or longer.
Sufficient: Allow from 6 to 7 quarts of currants to make 1 dozen pots of jam, each pot to hold 450g (1lb)
Seasonable: Make this in July.

It seems pretty similar to how she used to make it. I remember the stirring and testing it on a plate was important!! I'm sure there are some tips and tricks to making perfect jam, hopefully someone will pass some on to you. Enjoy!

The Sweeper

I don't have a stock recipe, but look up some on the web to see how much pectin is in blackcurrants.

Fruit pectin helps a jam to set. Some fruit don't have much, so it's best to add some, and some have lots and lots so you just need fruit, water and sugar to make a jam.

Boiling fruit in water until it's soft is the first part of jam-making, but decide if you want a jam, a jelly or a paste. Jam is the whole fruit plus water plus sugar. Jelly is boiling the fruit in water, then straining the juices through muslin. Then add the sugar to the strained juice and proceed from there - gives a delicate, clear jelly with no fruit pieces.

A paste comes from adding sugar to the strained fruit left after you've put the liquid through muslin to make a jelly.

I make quince jelly here because we have a bunch of quince trees on this property. It comes out beautifully, which is nice because it's so bloody expensive to buy it in the shops!

A sugar thermometer is useful when making jams, but not vital.

Ways to tell if your jam is done include the cold saucer method - drop a teaspoon of your mix on a cold sauce. Leave for a minute. Then push with your finger. If it's still a syrup, it's not good. It should have a consistency where it wrinkles up when you push it because it's started to set already.

Also I find a good way to measure if your jam is boiling hot enough is to bring it to a rolling boil that can't be stirred away, if that makes sense.

There are a LOT of jam-making resources on the net with advice and tips on making jams, jellies and pastes. The most distracting thing about them is the ratio of sugar:fruit:water they give - it's frustrating to find different ratios on different sites. I recommend you choose one of those blog-types that post pictures of them making it step by step themselves, because that way you know it's tried and tested!!

Last comment: jam-making isn't necessarily something you want to include your kids in all stages of. Let them watch by all means, but if you're doing it properly, you'll be transferring scalding liquid from a large pan filled with of pints of scalding, sticky liquid that would adhere to the skin like napalm, and you're fiddling this liquid lava into sterilised glass jars that may still be too hot to touch. (You can either put hot jam into warm jars and allow to cool completely before sealing, or put hot jam into hot jars and seal immediately because it'll create a vacuum as it cools).

NextSteps

You lucky b*stard. I wish I was making blackcurrant jam. Actualy, I wish I was picking blackcurrants and eating them there and then in the field, sod the jam. I have to get out of Dublin!

Saruman

I have blackcurrent bushes in my back. Last year i picked them (a little late, most had fallen to the ground). I froze them and only got around to making some jam a few months back.

All you need are the black currents. Some water and some Jam sugar (has pectin built in).
Its very simple.

UB are you thinking about Blackberry's? Bluckcurrents on their own are not all that great. Blackberrys though are lovely.

felinefeelins

hoping someone is still out there who will reply to this. Been picking Blackberries for last month there is an absolute glut of them, got @ 35lbs frozen and am about to attempt jam and wine. Anyone got a few recipies please ? For the life of me I can't get sure set sugar anywhere, so I need the pectin and citric's spelt out in grms etc. Jam pot covers are also impossible to get, recession be damned.
Thanks in anticipation.

Also gonna pick some sloes over the next few days, was advised to wait for the first frost to pick them. Going to try making a good sloe gin for the Mammy for christmas, need a recipe for that also.

Thats about it, but, any other gardeners out there with their garden going haywire? My strawberry plants have yielded more in the last 3 weeks than in the whole of the summer!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not complaining, but was just about to put em to bed for the winter and I noticed they were flowering again, amazing,