North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Ginda Fisher <list@ginda.us>]

On May 30, 2009, at 11:13 AM, aclyburn17@verizon.net wrote:

> Hello Everyone,
>
> Perhaps the flavor of the currants is affected by how well you  
> control the temperature they cook at?
> If that's the case, may I suggest that you try cooking your currants  
> in a crockpot?
> I use my crockpot to make my applebutter and IT NEVER BURNS IN MY  
> CROCKPOT. The flavor and texture of my applebutter is a lot nicer  
> than anything you can buy too.
> I also add some vinegar to my cooking water and that seems to help  
> the flavor as well.
> Hope this helps.

I boil the juice vigorously in an ordinary soup pot to make jelly.  I  
don't think cooking damages the flavor much.  (Red currant jelly  
tastes very similar to sweetened raw red currants, and I think that  
black currants need to be cooked to be palatable.)  I would rather  
cook them fairly quickly at a higher temperature rather than risk  
cooking them for a long time in a crock pot - flavors change a lot  
with long cooking.  (And you want it to change when you make apple  
butter, of course.)   Red and white currants are very juicy, and  
except at the very start, when the fruit might be dry on the outside,  
I don't think there's any risk of burning them.  If you are really  
worried about the start, you could add a little water.  You'd probably  
want to dilute the juice a little before drinking it anyway.

Ginda