Blackcurrants

[Toddy]

Despite using them up as they ripen, I still find myself with 3.5kg of blackcurrants.

I've made jam, I've made jelly, I've made syrup, I've made muffins (not something HWMBLT and Son1 thought worth repeating, tbh) and I have some set aside for sorbets.

Good ideas for further uses of blackcurrants, please ?

I have both Queen and pie/jam quality ones left to use up, and they've all been picked clean of anything odd and stalks.

cheers,
M

 

[British Red]

Wine, it makes a fabulous port like wine. My recipe is on here somewhere.

 

[Toddy]

Maybe, maybe.... I'm a natural designated driver though; it wouldn't bother me if I never had another drink. Son2 likes good port though.
I'll find your thread and have a read

M

 

[Quixoticgeek]

Fruit leather. If in doubt, if you have any excess fruit, then fruit leather is always the way forward.

Julia

 

[Toddy]

What to mix it with though ? I tried the blackcurrants on their own, and that's a no. It's really, really, not nice. I tried them with apples, and it's still a waste of good fruit.
I love pear leather though it's almost chewy toffee like in it's sweetness.

Thanks for the suggestions

cheers,
M

 

[mountainm]

They're good with game.

 

[Toddy]

I have venison in the fridge for HWMBLT but even he couldn't manage all these blackcurrants with his dinner Usually he gets rowan jelly with venison though......I'll see what he thinks of blackcurrant

atb,
M

 

[John Fenna]

Wine
It is a no brainer - you have to make wine....

 

[cranmere]

Give them to MEEE! Seriously, there is never enough blackcurrant jam, or just freeze them for making delicious pies in the winter.

 

[Toddy]

When our sons were growing up, I had two huge blackcurrant bushes, (down to one now), an apple tree, gooseberries, raspberries, rhubarb, strawberries and loganberries, and gathered brambles and rosehips from the woods too.
I made over 100 jars of jam a year, froze fruit and pie fillings, made syrups (no artificial food colourings or additives ) chutneys, pickles, and I dried fruits too.
Now they're adult we use very little jam really in a year, and the rest is the same. Great to feed a family, but too much now for us. Even passing jam along to folks I still end up with it left year on.
I miss having children around. I baked daily, I enjoyed cooking, I loved the whole seasonality of it for us all.

My glut of blackcurrants though....anyone got a good recipe for pies or muffins that don't leave the blackcurrants as a sudden tangy bite in the middle of the cake ? Fruit cobbler....might try that with apples for pudding

atb,
Mary

 

[Goatboy]

Hi Mary,

In this hot weather which can be a trachle you could make some blackcurrant juice lollies with fruit added in. Keep you cool and taste lovely!

 

[cranmere]

Various of my friends and relations ended up getting baskets of produce for Christmas that way. I like making things, preserves, soap etc but my experiments produce far more than we can use. I wondered whether they actually liked the stuff so one year we didn't do it, which resulted in a number of disappointed comments so we went back to making things for them again. Mr C. did several different types of marmalade this year.

 

[Harvestman]

Use them as the basis of a rich fruit chutney to go with cheeses.

 

[Toddy]

I made bramble chutney last year that was very good indeed; the blackcurrants might do very well for that

I was thinking of a mincemeat type mixture with them too.....

cheers,
M

 

[Quixoticgeek]

Take an metric handful of blackcurrants (that's about 1.8 imperial handfuls), place them in a saucepan with 1-2 tablespoons of water, 2 tea spoons of sugar. Heat until it starts to mush own into a thick sweet sauce.

Pour over good quality vanilla icecream, eat sat in the shade of a tree with a hoppy pale ale.

I freeze the blackcurrants on trays, then put the trays in bags, so I can pour out enough to make this source every so often...

Enjoy.

Julia

 

[Didgeridoohan]

I see a couple of suggestions that you should make wine, but why not just make juice? I use one of these:

to make blackcurrant-juice ("saft" in swedish). Brilliant!

 

[santaman2000]

When our sons were growing up, I had two huge blackcurrant bushes, (down to one now), an apple tree, gooseberries, raspberries, rhubarb, strawberries and loganberries, and gathered brambles and rosehips from the woods too........

.....Now they're adult we use very little jam really in a year, and the rest is the same. Great to feed a family, but too much now for us......

.....I miss having children around.......I loved the whole seasonality of it for us all.......

Yep, I know the feeling.

 

[santaman2000]

They're good with game.

Fresh? (the berries) Or cooked into a sauce like cranberry sauce?

 

[mountainm]

Fresh? (the berries) Or cooked into a sauce like cranberry sauce?

You can do a tart sauce or cook with the berries, onions etc in a big pot.

Think duck a l'orange.

 

[santaman2000]

You can do a tart sauce or cook with the berries, onions etc in a big pot.

Think duck a l'orange.

Thanks.....