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blackcurrant jam recipe

Someone recently asked me why I do what I do. More specifically, what compelled me. They were particularly focused on how I was likely most concerned with the finished product, asking me if that was my goal when I cooked and baked. I thought about it for a bit, and realized that the goal has very little to do with it; I like picking through lugs of fruits and berries with my hands, melting chocolate and butter until the mixture is smooth, the smell of folding toasted nuts into a cake batter, and lifting a batch of just-churned ice cream out of the machine and alternating the layers with ribbons of glossy chocolate swirl.

black currant jam

I do, however, have a rather particular thing for scoping out fruit and berries whenever I find them growing and using them to their best advantage. Most of the time, they end up in jams and jellies, especially since I recently returned to the trees which I found overloaded with wild plums a few years ago (which the owners had hacked down to their nubs the following year), which were now gloriously heavy with multicolored fruits of unbelievable goodness. And I spent a good afternoon plucking out the pits and making jam, and a nice tart out of them. Fait accompli!

Similarly, I was at someone’s weekend home recently and noticed lonely bunches of black currants still stuck to the branches in their garden. They looked so sad and neglected, drooping on their thin branches, begging to be plucked and cooked into something. I could barely sleep knowing they were out there – in a use ’em or lose ’em state.

Cassis jam

The next morning, I noticed a jar of black currant jam on the shelf in their kitchen. I could not see buying jam when there were black currants ripe and ready for the taking. So I took matters into my own hands, grabbed a colander, put on some pants (because there are prickers out there), and did some picking.

fresh black currants

I didn’t end up with much, but augmented my haul with a few stray red currants that were still clinging to their branches as well. But it was enough to yield two small jars of jam. I love black currants and they’re quite rare in America due to a disease they carried, which made them a berry non grata in the states.

In Europe, they’re a lot more prevalent and once a friend was visiting from San Francisco and we went to a convenience store in Paris to pick up something on a Sunday, when other stores were closed. And we noticed they had a couple of baskets of white currants by the register. And my friend agreed, “You know, I hate when I run out of white currants on the weekends.” So my new response to when people ask me why I moved to France, I can tell them that I feel reassured knowing that there are currants whenever, and wherever, I need them.

black currant jamblack currant jam

And now, proudly, I have two jars of highly coveted black currant jam that I made from my gleaning that I’m not sharing. As mentioned, the end result usually isn’t as important to me as the process. But in this case I’m making an exception. Actually, two exceptions.

black currant jam

Black Currant Jam

Black currants are great for jam-making and they thicken and jell beautifully. You might want to cook this jam, leaving it a bit on the runny side, since as it sits it will thicken up more than other jams.
  • 2 cups (250g) fresh black currants, stemmed
  • 3/4 cup (180ml) water
  • 1 1/4 cup (250g) sugar
  • 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
  • In a nonreactive pot, bring the black currants and the water to a boil. Reduce the heat and cook for 10 minutes, until the black currants are softened.
  • Add the sugar and the lemon juice and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the jam reaches the jelling point.
  • – If using a thermometer, it should read about 220ºF (104ºC). Or if you want to do the freezer test, put a small plate in the freezer. When the jam looks thickened, turn off the heat and put a teaspoon of the jam on the plate and stick it back in the freezer for about 5 minutes. When you take it out, it’s done if you nudge your finger into it and it holds its shape. If not, continue cooking it, and retesting the jam, until it’s the right consistency.
  • When ready, scrape into clean jars, cover, and turn the jars over until cool.

Notes

Storage: I store my jam in the refrigerator and eat it within a few months. If you want to can it, you can find instructions online although since it’s only a couple of jars, you are likely going to use them quickly.

Related Recipes and Posts

No-Recipe Cherry Jam

Eggplant Jam

Scratchy-Backside Jam

Medlar Jelly

Apricot Jam

Apple Jelly

Red Currant Jam


74 comments

    • Anonymous

    Sweet recipe. I have a recipe request for you. It is soya beancurd aka tau huay from singpaore. It’s sweet and eaten as dessert. Hope u have a go. It’s tasty stuff

    • Rochelle

    Looking at your photos makes me wish our currant bushes would have survived the winter! I would give anything for a spoonful of that jam on a freshly baked biscuit with some soft butter.

    • JESS

    We have the same situation with blackberries here in Spain. People seem to think they’re just invasive weeds, not worth eating, and the berries are just begging to be picked! So every year people look at me like I’m crazy while I’m standing at the edge of the road, digging through the bushes for blackberries to turn into cobblers and pies. Jam is definitely next on my list!

    • Kiran @ KiranTarun.com

    I can’t seem to get my hands on currants this summer in Florida. Looks so scrumptious!

    • Paula @ Vintage Kitchen Notes

    I forage my friend’s fruit trees all the time, especially kumquats and plums. They just let the fruit fall and make a mess! Currants are my obsession; sadly they never make it fresh to the city, only found in the southern much colder part of the country.

    • Natasja

    I too, often enjoy the process more than the results, especially when it comes to jams. I love making jams and jellies but we hardly ever eat them in our house! Luckily jam makes a great gift so nothing goes to waste and my colleagues never complain when I bring a cake or brownies to the office after a baking spree.

    • ClaireD

    Fresh bread, good butter, and fabulous jam is possibly my favorite food group. David, when you say “cover and turn them over until cool”, does that mean put the tops on the jars and turn them upside-down? Thanks.

    • ron shapley(NYC)

    Hi Dave………..This comment is off topic but what’s this new wave in Paris where bakers are selling half baked baguettes ? There’s a piece in WSJ…

    • David
    David Lebovitz

    Claire: The “them” refers to the jars, in the earlier part of that sentence. And note that I still refrigerate my jams because as another commenter pointed out, reversing the jars isn’t necessarily enough to make them shelf-stable.

    ron: Yes, I’ve mentioned that before, how people tend to like their baguettes pas trop cuite (not too cooked) nowadays. I find it horrible, personally. And I ask the folks at my boulangerie to rifle through the baguettes to sell me a crusty one. I don’t get it…

    Jess: I LOVE blackberries and really miss them! Crazy that people let them go to waste where you live…

    • Sini

    Perfect recipe post as I have nearly 10 liters of currants in my fridge and freezer at the moment ;)

    • burinsmith

    I love foraging too…my fave forage is loquats, which make a crystal clear pinkish jelly. I get them at the garden of a writing centre in my city, it’s an old historic cottage with an untended loquat tree. In season the fruit weighs the branches down to the ground. I really hate this thing of life being about GOALS all the time! Savour the moment, definitely.

    • lagatta à montréal

    Yes, Cassis jam is very French. A friend has some bushes here, in the countryside, and we’ve also done the black currants up in rum and brandy. Confiture de vieux garçon? Great around end-of-year holidays.

    I laughed at the tweet about your name, as I’m sure I’ve spelled it Liebowitz (same pronunciation).

      • David
      David Lebovitz

      It’s funny how much people point out typos in tweets, which are often written on-the-fly, hammered out on tiny keyboards, and switching between a French and English keyboard, auto-correct sometimes produces odd (and/or hilarious) results. But it is interesting how many people get my name wrong, considering it’s written at the top of my site. But maybe they are using smartphones as well, or auto-correct somehow prefers Liebowitz to the simpler (and in my opinion, more correct!) version..

    • Olga

    I grew up in Ukraine where it was almost obligatory to have blackcurrant jam in a fridge. Though we just were grinding it with a sugar in 50/50 ratio and then were enjoying it all winter long – on our buttered toasts or just a spoon- drop of jam mixed with a boiling water as a hot tea/drink.
    David, thanks for bringing attention to this amazing berry. Unfortunately here, in US, my black currant shrubs are not doing great, plus I have to compete with animals for a harvest ;)

    • Cathy

    I would say blackcurrant jam is very English! As is the blackcurrant drink .Ribena. I don’t think I ever had blackcurrants until I moved to London. I was regularly offered hot Ribena drinks in the winter the first winter I was here.

    My backyard in London is full of rampant blackberry bushes and my dog picks off the low hanging berries and I get the higher up ones. Have been making lots of crisps and cakes with them. Delicious!

    • Darlynne

    I first encountered black current jam in Salzburg more than 30 years ago and have loved it ever since. In fact, I’m having it this morning on a piece of pumpernickel bread; so flavorful and distinct from other jams. And easy to make, apparently, if I could just find the fruit. Thanks for the recipe.

    • Rowi

    Thanks for mentioning that black currants are berry non grata : ) in the US. But in marmalade form it is not?

    There seems to be an abundance of berries in the Stockholm region this summer. A friend of mine harvested a lot of black currants and goose berries from the bushes in her garden and she asked me if I wanted to have some black currants. As I have never tried a hand at this type of berry, I said yes without thinking. Making a jam of it would have been the easy thing to do but we had almost 4 kilos neatly picked and plump currants. My husband wanted to experiment by drying the berries and he managed after a week or so of airdrying (with a table fan on hand) and convection oven in between. The dried black currants are quite good (tasted like a combination of dried cranberries and raisins with a slight tartiness) esp mixed with muesli on yogurt. I made my first svart vinbärssylt from about 2 kilos black currants that resulted in 7 1/2 jars of gooey goodness. Sylt is a kind of runny marmalade quite common in Sweden.

    • Sue

    I made about 18 lbs this year from neighbours’ blackcurrants and added some dark rum (not a lot) to the last 5 jars – very mellow and great! They won’t be given away! Thanks for all the recipes, David.

    • martinn@keytoparis

    hello another great recipe : Thanks !
    A couple of years ago when I still had the B&B in the South West of France, I had a lot of blackcurrant bushes and was harvesting pounds of berries.
    I would make pots for all my breakfasts.
    To give it a personal touch, I’d add some anise seeds in the jam machine. It was delicious ! and in French “Cassis et Anis” sound the same, it is a rhyme …

    I made also Apricot and Rosemary, Strawberries and Thyme and pepper,
    Raspberries and bell pepper… but as you wrote for another post , raspberries are very expensive this year so unless you grow your own, forget about this one…

    • Mrs. Gibson

    Put up nine pints this summer. Will be in Paris for two and half weeks this Oct. Want jar? Love your blog. Mrs. G

      • David
      David Lebovitz

      Thanks, but I just put up a dozen wild plum jams, which will keep me full for a while…

    • Ailsa

    A favourite in this household. The jam is rationed to make it last and woe betide anyone who has more than their fair share! Simple stewed blackcurrants are delicious too, swirled in plain yoghurt the mixture becomes a work of art to savour. However the reason for my comment is, should it not be one word?? Somehow blackcurrant appears correct to me. Maybe 2 words are the American way but it doesn’t do justice to the fruit in my opinion!

      • David
      David Lebovitz

      Yes, I think black currant is the American way of saying them. Personally I prefer the cassis, the French word, to both the British and American versions! : )

    • Stu Borken

    Made your cherry jam recipe for the second year and have gotten complements again and again. I do boost the flavor with natural cherry liquor added to the boil.

      • David
      David Lebovitz

      I often add a shot of compatible liqueur/liquor to jams, as they do augment the taste. Kirsch is always good in most jams, no matter what the fruit is. (Although I didn’t add anything to this one, save for a squirt of lemon juice, because I didn’t want to detract in the least from the black currant flavor.)

    • Catherine

    Black currant jam is a favourite of mine. It’s difficult to find them here, in Southwestern Ontario, but I recently found a local farm that grows and sells them. I have made two trips to this farm just for black currants, and have now made several batches of jam. The more I picked through the black currants, the more I enjoyed doing it. It seemed almost addictive. Like you, I enjoy the process immensely.

    I read your post just before I was ready to head out the door to find local peaches, nectarines and plums!

    • Julia

    I just came inside from telling my husband that I must get around to making the blackcurrant jam when I found your email in my inbox… We have a haul of blackcurrants we have been gradually harvesting, processing and freezing from the bushes in our garden. It is the only fruit that always grows here reliably year after year, in our garden in Scotland. We end up leaving about half of the crop on the bushes each year to share with the many blackbirds in our garden, and still end up with enough to make a year’s worth of jam and smoothies. I love their earthy sour-sweet taste – definitely one of my favourite berries!

    • Kiki

    TODAY I spoke to a friend about your blog and your wonderful photography, your sense of humour and the beautiful posts. Then I said: You know he should be as big as a balloon with all the exciting stuff he presents and the drinks he gets…. and we spoke about what ‘a passion for food’ does to our waistlines and why oh why it doesn’t seem to affect our David (and my one sister in law….!)
    Now I get another example of deliriously lovely stuff and partially a reply to the question why you do what you do so well…..I believe the best part of your job is that all can be eaten, drunk, enjoyed and nothing gets wasted :)
    One of the greatest joys of my last week’s ‘Holiday at home’ was that I could cook for Hero Husband and myself every day, when we were hungry, whatever we felt like, with fresh and tasty produce from our market – and it was heaven. Thank you for the many ideas and inputs

    • Julia

    Forgot to add, that another way I love to serve blackcurrants, is as a compote with chocolate brownies and crème fraîche – a beautiful colour and flavour combination for pudding!

    • Betsy

    I’ll be in Paris in a few days and traveling with a Vegan friend. Help!!! any restaurant suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

    • jan

    Love the idea that you are doing what your doing because you love doing it!

    • witloof

    We get black and red currants at the Union Square Greenmarket in NYC and I always wind up eating them raw before I can turn them into jam. Love them!

    • Alicia F.

    Actually, turning jars upside down is no longer recommended! The logic is that if you turn the jar upside down before it creates the vacuum (i.e. before it comes to room temperature) then liquid could seep under the lid, thus rendering your food potentially not shelf stable.

    Source: http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/usda/GUIDE%201%20Home%20Can.pdf

      • David
      David Lebovitz

      Thanks for adding that link. I always keep my jam in the refrigerator even though I turn them over, because it’s not the same perfect, airtight seal as canning. Appreciate your finding & passing along that article.

    • sarahb1313

    OK, so once again we are on the same theme… Just as I bought a new yogurt maker, you posted about labneh… as well as a few other odd coincidences…

    This time: I was trying to find black currant/ cassis flavoring for my baking as it is very challenging to find the berries here. Recently they have become legal to grow in NY state so I am seeing currants a bit more but still a rarity. So last night I was googling flavor extracts but really was finding all the “supplement” stuff for the anti-oxidant fiends but only one place that clearly had a baking application. I am able to at least find a few different jarred preserves that have been used to make cassis souffle :-)

    So, since I will be in Paris shortly, do you know of any place I may be able to find cassis extract? Could make a fabulous marshmallow flavor…

    • jack casserly

    I’m new to your site but want to let you know that I enjoy very much everything you are doing with your life. Of course, you are working 24 hours per day…well, maybe 27, but from my point of view, you’ve got one full and lovely life.
    My question to you is: are you working on your autobiography yet? (Using those two extra hours above to put in even MORE time on the computer, of course). I’m very curious about how you discovered the kitchen/cuisine/home-making crept into your life and where did those influences come from.

    • Agneta

    Black currant jam and jelly is also very Swedish. My Aunt Helmi has a big yard full of red,black and white currant bushes. As well as gooseberries. She makes the most fabulous drink concentrates as well as jams. Black Currant Jelly is traditionally used as a condiment served with roast beef however.

    • maureen kennedy

    Huckleberry jam would be the west coast equivalent. Available at the holiday fair in early December at the Dance Palace in Pt Reyes from the inverness garden club (proceeds go to West Marin college scholarships). I’m heading out to pick this weekend!

    • Collie9541

    David,, how is it you don’t weigh 300 pounds? So much delicious food.

    • Arthur in the Garden!

    I will have to try this as we do not normally have current here in Eastern North Carolina, USA>

    • Lisa (in Indianapolis, IN)

    Hi, David
    Thank you for the fun post, recipe and inspiration. I’m going to have to see if Whole Foods has Black Current Jam.

    We have a row of blackberry bushes full of ripening jewels. All summer we’ve picked nearly every evening and now after tonight’s last endeavor we’ll have picked almost 20 pints. The birds didn’t get many this year since we had them tightly covered.

    We’ll enjoy them all year in our cereal and cobblers. Nothing like enjoying the “fruits of your labors”.

    Shame on those people who cut down their plum trees! What were they thinking?!
    Lisa

    • Melissa @ Treats With a Twist

    I just love currants and currant jam! What a beautiful recipe. And I love that wooden spoon!
    Have to tell you! I made your chocolate sorbet for my blog recently and am still swooning over it! I adore it! Thank you!! (here’s a link if you want to see it: http://www.treatswithatwist.com/2013/08/rich-chocolate-sorbet.html

    • northcoast2175

    Well..I took the long route and made black current jelly. Simmered the berries with a little water until soft and then pressed thru a stand-type strainer with wooden pestle. Took the juice, added sugar, and made jelly..finished with bit of dark rum. Processed in water bath. Love those tiny Weck jars for this intense jelly. But..best of all…I took the remaining berry pulp, added simple syrup and vodka …bottled it up and set it aside for several weeks then strained out the pulp, and had my own very nice cassis to add to wine for Kir. A two fer. Best to all. Thank you David.

    • keapdx

    Black currants are not that easy to find here (Portland OR) but there are at least one or two u-pick farms that sometimes have them. I can never seem to get out in time though. We have a large population of Russian/Old Believer folks in the area and they are much more vigilant about getting to the farm and picking them all!

    One cavil on the recipe. I think the jelling point is usually 220F? I haven’t been lucky enough to make black current jam so maybe they are unusually pectin-ish (reds aren’t–I ended up with syrup…)

    Someday though…

    • Donna Adams

    David, could I use this same recipe for Huckleberries? I just received 5 lbs. from Washington State.

    • Dr. CaSo

    I love and miss black currents a lot, here, in Canada. The thing I miss most is black current sorbet!

    • David
    David Lebovitz

    Donna: It likely would but I would reduce the sugar by maybe 20% and add more lemon juice. In place of some of the water, I would also use apple juice since it has some pectin in it.

    keapdix: Yes, I don’t usually use a thermometer but made a goof. It’s fixed. thanks.

    Lisa: A number of people don’t like plum trees because they fall, and stain and get slippery. I, on the other hand, am happy to take any and all fruit!

    jack: You can read my book, The Sweet Life in Paris, which talks about how I got into cooking and living in France.

    collie9541: Check out my post, How I eat, which explains it.

    • Hannah Simpson-Grossman

    What a beautiful, inspiring post.

    I loved how it’s not the goal that necessarily matters.

    I’m from Israel, where we don’t have plenty of berries growing in gardens, unless you live up north, and remember, while visiting my uncle in England, discovering that they have berries growing in their garden! The pleasure I took picking and eating them fresh off the bushes!

    Thank you,

    Hannah

    • Katharine

    You should take a gander over at my black currant jam with rosemary and black peppercorns! I used the black currant variety Crandall that is native to the Americas and it seems to be flourishing. It’s been going strong for 3 years without any diseases what-so-ever and is oh so delicious!

    • Marcella

    I’ve been fighting for years with the wild blackberry vines in San Francisco and now in Santa Cruz so I’m feeling a bit guilty now. But damn, they are pernicious. Yesterday saw some black-tailed deer eating them & the poison oak and was so happy!

    But I remember one summer with a friend in Port Townsend and we went out picking wild berries and make margaritas with them. Oh, yes, baby!

    Your lovely photo of the cassis reminds me of berries on the grapevine.

    • Ingrid

    Hi David,
    Back in Austria I used to make, apart from blackcurrant jam, a whole lot of blackcurrant juice every autumn. It’s absolutely yummy and my children loved it. I filled the juice in beer bottles (begged from everybody) and capped them with rubber caps. Keeping them cool and dark they lasted all winter. Great health benefits!

    Now, living in Australia, it’s a bit difficult to get my hands on the berries and I miss them very much.

    Love your posts, thank you for sharing yourself and your recipes.

    • tea with hazel

    i love that you picked those languishing currants and made two precious jars of jam..it’s the sort of thing i love to do too..i planted red and black currant bushes last year but i don’t expect to be overwhelmed with fruit..the climate here in melbourne doesn’t seem to suit them that well but it’s worth a try..i don’t think i’ve ever seen black currants for sale in the shops but punnets of red currants are listed commodities on the stock exchange here at christmas..

    • Gunny

    I cannot say I moved from Europe to US to escape the abundance of black currants, but yes – since then I haven’t seen almost any black currants. Soon I might start missing them, because come it July there always was the dilemma – do we really need to make fresh jam, jelly, syrup, juice or marmalade and even wine out of those black currants (because there still were lines of jars in the basement ) or we invite some friends from city to pluck them or… just leave for birds to eat.
    Actually we ate a lot of fresh black currants and we froze them to eat fresh in winter too. Especially those nice big and sweet ones. They are packed with vitamin C and said to be curing cold symptoms.
    If you happen to be in Riga in winter, ask for a hot black currant – Riga Black balsam drink – that will not only warm you from inside out but will lift your spirit not because of alcohol but it just tastes sooo good.

    • Andrea

    I’ve loved black currant ever since my first encounter with it in Europe, and I hate that it’s so hard to get here in the US. I did manage to find some Bonne Maman jelly at Whole Foods, and I just found a Lindt Excellence Black Currant chocolate bar at World Market (delicious). Dreaming of the day I can once again eat a cassis macaron at Carette . . . .

    • Debra

    Any tips for making jam/jelly or what have you from grapes? We have dark seeded grapes in abundance, very flavorful, though the seeds are a bit of a nuisance. One year we tried making raisins, and the seeds defeated all but the most determined of us.

      • David
      David Lebovitz

      I’ve made Grape Sherbet which works really well with flavorful grapes. Jelly-making usually requires a jelly bag, straining, and some method of getting some pectin in there for jelling because grapes aren’t high in pectin. But that sherbet works great! You can also make grape syrup and use that to flavor sodas.

    • Nik

    Go on, torture us. It is hell living in Australia looking at all the European posts on berries, knowing that the fruit shop down the road is selling blueberries for $8/150g.

      • David
      David Lebovitz

      We don’t get many berries in Paris – I haven’t seen any raspberries or other berries at the markets (except strawberries.) Fortunately I was out in the countryside and found these black currants, so maybe you need to do some foraging around Australia for some, too? ; )

    • Sarah

    Yum… I love currants! It really is a shame they are not so readily available in the states! But my grandmother has a plant and she makes yummy currant jam too! :-)

    • Marialuisa

    WOW!!, my favourite jam in the entire university, though it´s not very common where I live.
    Thanks for sharing the recipe…let´s see if I can find the fruits in San Sebastián.
    Marialuisa

    • Sylvie

    I’m drooling! Any type of currant jam is my caviar. I have always wondered why there aren’t currants in North America. Thanks for enlightening me!

    • lagatta à montréal

    David, I agree with you about baguettes, as does a friend who is a trained boulanger. We can’t abide undercooked baguettes (or any bread) and I find it difficult to digest.

    Betsy, David has a list of vegetarian restaurants and tips for vegetarians in Paris at the “My Paris” part of his site: https://www.davidlebovitz.com/2008/04/tips-for-vegeta-1/ https://www.davidlebovitz.com/2008/04/vegetarian-rest-1/ Of course not all of this is vegan; remember also that Chinese and Southeast Asian (thinking in particular of Vietnamese, very common in Paris) restaurants will probably have no dairy, and eggs should be easy to avoid. The foodcentric Chowhound site can be a help, and it is a common question on travel sites.

    I advised a vegetarian friend who was spending a couple of weeks in Paris to opt for a rental flat and he was glad he did. Paris has wonderful markets, and a growing number of veg options in restaurants, but it is nice just to be able to partake of produce at home.

    This can be useful (despite the naff site design), though it is not always up to date:
    http://www.happycow.net/europe/france/paris/

    • Sinead

    I love homemade jam so much, especially when it’s spread on fresh homemade bread :-)

    • Bakingfanatic

    Marvellous recipe.

    • Paris Getaway

    mmm the French cuisine, with the Parisian Bread it makes me hungry just thinking about it :) thank for the delicious post.

    • farmerpam

    2 years ago I planted 6 spindly, sorry looking black currant bushes. I wish I’d planted them further apart because those things have taken over. Much to my delight I had a bumper crop this year. Made all kinds of jam, mixed some with wild blueberries and call it my “black and blue” jam. And to think that I had never tasted a currant before….elderberries are happening now Vermont, and blackberries, yum!

    • Sara

    Hi! Though this jam looks lovely and the plum tart sounds fascinating, I am actually de-lurking here to comment off-topic. Last summer, while the eggplants were in season at the farmers’ markets here in Austin, Texas, I discovered your fantastic recipe for baba ghanoush. I promptly decided it would become my go-to recipe for an annual eggplant celebration. Thank you for bringing such happiness to my lunch table again this week. Now, what were we talking about? Oh, yes, currants that we do not have in the U.S. Carry on…

    • Charlotte

    Next year! I planted two blackcurrant bushes this spring and I’m hoping for fruit next year. Weirdly, my red currants didn’t do much this year — but my gooseberries were lovely. We’ve had a terrific year for fruit in Montana — bumper crops of cherries and apples and plums …

    • kellie@foodtoglow

    Living in Scotland, which has the perfect climate for these dark beauties, I am blessed with more black currants than I can shake a stick at. I have 8 kilos-worth in the freezer! I too make jam – black currant and raspberry (a vanilla pod sometimes falls in too). And have also been making beautifully nippy-sweet black currant leather and little hand pies, with goats cheese and herbs tucked in – easy and delish. I pity my fellow Americans missing out on such a glorious fruit.

    • Bronwyn

    Jam should be shelf stable without “canning”. That’s a strange American thing to do to it. The concentration of sugar should be such that nothing will grow in it, and your recipe has enough.
    The first year my stepmother lived in our house she was determined to use all the raspberries on our bushes – she made all sorts of things, one of which was jam. That was 1964. In 1970 we moved house and there were still a few jars of 1964 raspberry jam in the cupboard – no longer the vibrant red they once were, but perfectly edible for all that. And just sealed with cellophane lids. No one “cans” jam in New Zealand.

    • Marsha

    David, your currant jam made without added pectin looks delicious, I will surely try it this way next year – here all the black currants are finished. Another point – here in Germany EVERYONE I know who makes marmalade, jam, preserves, jelly etc. simply turns the jars over for 5 min and then back again and NO ONE every boils them in a water bath afterwards. I always make enough jams etc to last an entire year, until the next crop of fruit; they all sit on a shelf NOT in the fridge, and they have NEVER spoiled. As long as you wipe the rims well and the rubber seal is intact, this is entirely safe. Also, we rarely use “special canning jars;” simple jars that other products came in with twist-off lids that contain a thin film of rubber seal inside are fine. Just don’t use a jar that pickles came in for jam! That smell is very hard to get rid of! ;o) Thanks for all your recipes David, I love them and make many of them.

    • Jeff @ Cheeseburger

    This is perfect spooned with yoghurt onto porridge during breakfast.

    • Alice Dishes

    This reminds me of growing up in the UK – my mum had black and red currant bushes and we would have to pick through them, removing the stems, so she could make either black currant jam, or jelly which was strained of all the pieces of fruit. I wondered why we didn’t have black currants in abundance here in the US. Thanks for enlightening me.

A

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