North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Ginda Fisher <list@ginda.us>]

On Jul 2, 2010, at 6:01 AM, Alan Haigh wrote:

> First I want to say how I make preserves with black currants. . . 
> I just take the berries that I froze back when it was too hot and hectic to 
> stand over a stove and throw them in a pot and let them thaw.  Then I stir 
> while bringing them up to a boil while adding sugar to taste (lots of 
> sugar!).  Once they get to boiling I take them off the stove, mash them, 
> let the mash cool and they're done.  The jam (not preserved) will last in 
> the fridge for at least 2 months, bigger batches require freezing some of 
> it.

I just made red currant jelly.  I follow the recipe in an old "Joy of 
Cooking".  In the past I've had trouble with the texture, I think because 
there's too much pectin.  This year I tried adding some water and more sugar 
(I used 1 part sugar to 1 part juice, plus some added water.)

Oh - I start by making juice, because I like a clear jelly instead of seedily 
preserves.   To do that, I put all the fruit in a pot, crush it so that the 
bottom of the pot is wet, and cook slowly until all the skins turn 
translucent (instead of transparent) and I have a wet mass.  Then I pass it 
through a fine sieve, sometimes using cheese cloth.  (the cheese cloth, which 
must be pre-wetted, gives a clearer jelly, but I generally don't bother.)  I 
am always disappointed at how much less juice there is than there was fruit, 
but 4 cups of juice makes a lot of jelly.

So this year I had 4 cups of juice, I added a cup of water and 4 cups of 
sugar.  I cooked it until it reached the "jelly" stage and bottled it, giving 
me 4 bottles of jelly.

First, adding the water was a waste of time and energy - I just boiled it off 
again.  (So I guess it wasn't all that much too much pectin.)  Second, adding 
more sugar did cure my "too chewy" issue, but it resulted in jelly which is 
too sweet for my tastes.  So I'm thinking of either aiming for too-soft jelly 
next year, or adding some other fruit juice.

My jelly, made more-or-less like this, has always stored fine for a year or 
more in the fridge.  At least, it doesn't mold, and no one has dropped dead.

Ginda