Grow Your Own Magazine

I've inherited a pretty big blackcurrant bush on the allotment. Picked some of them today and i've now got a huge bag of them and will probably have the same again in a few weeks. I usually make jam from the blackcurrant bushes in my garden which, is enough to keep us going through the year.

So I'm really looking for some suggestions as to what to do with this additional lot. Can anyone help?

If you lived in North Wales, I'd buy 'em off you. Blackcurrent jam is my favourite. How about a Summer pudding, Blackcurrent jelly or indeed just mix them in with a salad. Welcome to the vine,helios.

Did a quick hunt in my old recipe books, and came up with the following recipes. I would really recommend looking for some old 'Farmhouse' style recipe books in charity shops/eBay or Green Metropolis (online), they usually have good sections of fruit recipes incl preserves and desserts. My favourites are written by Mary Norwak and Babs Honey, but hard to find.

Home made blackcurrant cordial

1) Put fruit in bowl and crush with wooden spoon
2) Add about half pint water to each pound of fruit.
3) Cook slowly, crushing occasionally with spoon.
4) Strain through sieve.
5) Add one pound sugar to each pint juice.
6) Cool, and store in sterilized bottles, in the fridge.
7) Add hot or cold water when you want to drink it.
8) It will store safely for about 2 weeks if kept in the fridge.

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Fruit cheese.

You can use the fruit pulp left over from the previous recipe to make this one.

1) Press cooked pulp through sieve.
2) Weigh puree, and add one pound sugar to each pound puree.
3) Add a little cinnamon, then stir over low heat to dissolve sugar.
4) Cook for about 45 minutes until thick.
5) Pack in small, oiled, wide necked jars, or individual jelly moulds.
6) Cover with wax discs

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Blackcurrants can also be used with cooking apples to make a tasty pie, or crumble, and together with other soft fruits (strawberries, raspberries, blackberries etc) can form the basis of a cold Summer Pudding.

They can be stewed and added to yoghurt, pureed and mixed into a rice pudding, or simply used as a decoration around a fruity cocktail drink.

When you consider the size of a single blackcurrant, it’s amazing how much goodness you can get from it.

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Sarah

“Tell me one last thing,” said Harry. “Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?”
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”

This works with most berries......
gently cook through either in a pan or in the microwave and firmly squeeze out the juice through a sieve into a jug.
Then pour juice into an ice cube tray and once frozen transfer into a freezer bag.
Great later on in the year mixed in with plain yog or stewed apple.
I've also done this with the juice left over from cooking the cherries before I stoned and froze them.

They make a FABULOUS fruit pie!

Oh yes, and a great sorbet.

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Earth laughs in flowers. Ralph Waldo Emerson

www.vegheaven.blogspot.com

Updated November 17th - The Big Dig

Add to fruit salad. Makes it tangy and different. Freeze some for winter.

Hi
They make wonderful icecream.
As I don't have that many I cook them with an equal amount of apple chipped very small, cook gently with some spice and orange juice. You get a wonderful puree to eat with yoghurt.
Jam obviously and pies and summer pudding, use them for muffins instead of blueberries.
Sue

Thanks for all your ideas, I'm feeling a bit more inspired now.

So far I've made some jam with 2kg of them and froze the remaining 3kg of them in smallish portions until I decide what I am going to do with them.

I've made a sauce of them, adding some sugar. That bit's not very exciting, but then add gin to the hot sauce and pour over home-made lemon curd ice-cream. Also works well with blueberries. Is there a slightly tiddled-looking smilie?

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http://inelegantgardener.blogspot.com
Updated 13th September

Mum used to make a blackcurrant merangue pie with some of ours, like a lemon one but with cooked blackcurrants instead. The sweetness of the topping goes really well with the tart fruit.

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Some of us live in the past, always talking about back then. Some of us live in the future, always planning what we are going to do. And, then there are those, who neither look behind or ahead, but just enjoy the moment of right now.

Which one are you and is it how you want to be?

Alison
Brilliant idea, have loads of egg whites stashed in the freezer. I tried a rhubarb meringue pie which was absolutely wonderful, now a blackcurrant one sounds even more scrumptious.
And if I can keep the birds off the redcurrants next year, I will try one of those too.
Sue