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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] white currants

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  • From: Ginda Fisher <list@ginda.us>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] white currants
  • Date: Sat, 30 May 2009 09:25:07 -0400


On May 30, 2009, at 9:13 AM, William C. Garthright wrote:


I eat them fresh and make juice. While others will disagree, I think
white currant juice is far superior to red or black - excellent!



How do you extract the juice? Is there a simple way, without buying a
juicer?

I make red currant juice as the first step in making red currant jelly. I fill my spaghetti pot about 2/3 to 3/4 with currants, stems and all. Then I mash them a little with my fingers, so there is some liquid at the bottom, so that the lowest berries won't overheat when I cook them. Then I heat gently, stirring a little and mashing them a bit with the back of a plastic cooking spoon until the currants are sort of white and muddy-looking, and collapse. (I follow the details in "the Joy of Cooking" under the section on making jelly, except currants are juicy enough and have enough pectin that I add neither water nor any jelling agent.)

Then I strain the mess through a sieve into a smaller pot, to continue with the jelly-making process. I press it down a little, but don't use any serious mechanical aids like a foley mill. Most of the juice runs out pretty easily. In fact, you get a clearer juice if you don't press at all.

I have a large, very fine, stainless-steel sieve, but I've also used an ordinary sieve with cheesecloth. If you use cheesecloth you should wet it thoroughly before putting it in the sieve, otherwise it will absorb a lot of the juice.

This juice makes magnificent jelly. I've never tried drinking it by itself, but I imagine that if you added a little sugar and possibly diluted it a bit it would be very tasty.

Ginda




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