Blackcurrants

[tommy the cat]

Funny I'm the opposite I have too few this year so don't know what to do with them!

 

[Quixoticgeek]

This week I harvested 14oz of blackcurrants off my 9 blackcurrant bushes. Considerably down on the 15lb I got last year. It wasn't really enough to jam or to make leather or pretty much anything preserve wise, other than bottling. I had decided last year after simply freezing/jamming them the whole harvest that I wanted to bottle them this year. I got 2 160ml jars, and a 340ml jar. I bottled them in a 1:1 sugar water syrup by volume. Sterilising them in the oven for just under 40 mins at 140°C. I brought the temp up slowly, taking best part of 20 mins to reach temp, then soaking them for 20 mins. Turns out that they over spilled slightly, despite my not filling the jars completely. While I've been sat here I've heard 2 pops, I'm now waiting for the 3rd.

My bushes are a variety called Ben Sarek, it's a bush with a small habbit, ideal in small gardens. After 6 years without pruning them, they were big enough to give me last years big harvest. So at the end of the season, I pruned them quite hard, taking out old wood, and leaving younger 1 and 2 year old wood. The result is this years poor harvest. Next year I hope to get something nearer the usual 3lb that I got in years past. I doubt I will get the 15lb bumper crop I got last year again any time soon, that was a brilliant mast year.

All being well I have some bottled blackcurrants to enjoy in the depths of winter.

Julia