Phew, I’ve managed to do it. I’ve managed to get through a minimum of ten kilos of our fresh and frozen blackcurrants from this and last year. Bearing in mind that we still have about 16 kilos left, my turning the above amount into yummy scoffs feels like a major achievement and a relief. Ok, so what did I do with all those blackcurrants. Well, I made ice-cream, cordial and jam and it has all gone down really well. All of the seven kilos of ice-cream I made has been eaten and we are consuming the jam and cordial at speed.

Due to previous success, I used Delia Smith’s recipes for the ice-cream and the jam. I have to say that her blackcurrant ice-cream recipe is amazing, so I didn’t feel any need to try and tweak it more to my taste. You can find it on her website here

If you have been put off by blackcurrants before because they are sharp and need a lot of sugar, please do try Delia’s recipe; I think you are going to be blown away.  Don’t try to add more sugar than she suggests and trust the recipe to work for you.  Her recipe produces an ice-cream that for me has the creaminess of an ice-cream and the fresh gentle tang of a sorbet. It’s out of this world delicious!

The Delia jam recipe I’ve adapted here for making the jam, can be found in her book Delia Smith’s Complete Cookery Course 

 

The Ingredients

  • 2 LB (900g) Blackcurrants
  • 2 1/2 LB (1 kg 125g) sugar - I don't specifically use jam sugar, I use golden caster sugar.
  • 1 Pint Water

Method:

Simmer the blackcurrants in the water until tender and then add the sugar stirring well to disperse any clumps.

Heat very gently for about fifteen to twenty minutes stirring regularly to thoroughly dissolve the sugar into the fruit.

Only when the sugar is dissolved and not a moment before, bring the jam mixture to the boil and let it boil for ten minutes, stirring occasionally. (You can check to see if the sugar has dissolved by coating the back of a wooden spoon with the jam mixture and seeing if there are still any sugar crystals showing).

As soon as your jam mixture is boiling, put three or four saucers into the freezer.

After the ten minutes are up, scoop a tiny drop of jam out of the pan and pop it onto one of the saucers from out of the freezer. When it has cooled a little, push the drop of jam with a finger gently. If it wrinkles, then it’s set, if it doesn’t, carry on boiling for another five minutes and repeat the test again.

Repeat the wrinkle test until your jam is showing signs of being set. Don’t wait for it to over wrinkle, (sounds hilarious this doesn’t it!!) or your jam may be over set.

Another hint that your jam is ready is when it turns a very glossy, almost glass like consistency – just think stained glass!

When the jam is set, leave it to cool for a couple of minutes and then pour into sterilised and heated jars using a metal jam funnel. Put the lids on immediately.

 

This is a lovely blackcurrant jam recipe and it goes beautifully on bread and toast, as well as in jam tarts which our little ones love.

Have you ever made blackcurrant ice-cream or jam?  I would love to hear from you, so please do get in touch.

Please also come back and see my blog post coming soon on how I made the blackcurrant cordial!