My Tiny PlotBlackcurrant Jelly (no bits)
I love Blackcurrant jelly. It’s my favourite type of jam. Hands down. Strawberry is good, Raspberry is fine but all year round I wait for my single Blackcurrant bush to fruit and then I make as much jam as I can. When I say jam, of course I mean jelly. I tried making jam and leaving the ‘bits’ in but it was too ‘chewy’. No-one likes chewy jam. So I invested in a jelly strainer and started making smooth, glossy, gem-like jelly. It’s heaven.
The recipe I used comes from Ripe, the gorgeous fruit cookbook by Nigel Slater. I think he’s a bit bonkers but his Blackcurrant recipe works really well. He leaves the ‘bit’s in. See, I told you he was bonkers.
I couldn’t find a link to the recipe so I’ll just put it here. Hope he doesn’t mind. I add a bit of pectin if it needs it to set.
sugar – 4&1/2 cups (900g)
blackcurrants 5&1/2 cups (600g)
water – 2&1/3 cups (560ml)
1/4 tsp of pectin if needed
Boil the fruit and water, add warmed sugar, bring to boil and strain through jelly bag. Boil again if not jelling. Enjoy.
My Blackcurrant bush is about seven years old. It’s fully grown and I harvest some of the fruit by pruning off whole branches and picking off the currants. Others I just pick off the bush. That way I can keep a nice ‘open goblet’ shape and encourage new branches to form without crowding out the others.
Blackcurrants like sun and a fair amount of water. This one is on the south side of the garden and gets a good amount of water from the watering system. I have another one that is the same age but about half the size because it doesn’t get as much water as this one.
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Thank you so much for sharing your recipe! We inherited a blackcurrant bush with the garden at our new house 3 years ago and I’ve yet to use the currants from it – this year I will!