Home made blackcurrant jam
A good jam to start with if you haven't made it before
Servings: 6 370g jars
Calories: 196kcal
Equipment
- pan to fry in
- mixing bowl
- large mixing spoon
Ingredients
- 1 kg blackcurrants
- 1 kg sugar
- 1.5 pints water
- generous knob of butter
Metric - US Customary
Instructions
- First of all, remove your currants from their stalks.
- Sort through them and remove any leaves, stones and unusable currants. Give them a rinse under the tap and drain.
- Now put the currants and water in a large saucepan able to tolerate very
hot temperatures. You don’t need a preserving pan if you haven’t got
one. If you do have one of course, feel free to use it - Cover, bring to the boil, and simmer gently for around 20 minutes. Stir every now and again to prevent the pulp sticking and burning.
- The skins need to be soft. Do not rush this step. Cook the fruit on too
high a heat and they may catch and give your lovely jam a burnt flavour.
Cook for not enough time and you’ll have hard or chewy fruit in the
finished jam. - Once the fruit is soft enough, add the sugar. Remove the lid and boil quite fast until setting point is reached. This should be about 10 minutes
- You can test this by putting a teaspoon of jam on a cold saucer and
putting it in the fridge for a couple of minutes. If it’s ready, it will
have formed a skin in that time and when you push it gently with a
finger you’ll see that skin. - If you have a thermometer able to measure high enough, it should set when it reaches 104c/220f. Just keep simmering until it’s ready, but, on the other hand, don’t simmer more than necessary, or the lovely fresh flavour will gradually be lost.
- While the jam is simmering, sort your jam jars out. If you haven’t already, wash them, and pop them in a low oven to sterilise them. Some people use jars fresh from the dishwasher. Whatever you do, they need to be very clean, and dry.Any water in the jars allows a sugar syrup to develop, and over time, that may well grow mould, spoiling your lovely jam. And they need to be scrupulously clean so your jam will keep well, there must be no germs, bacteria or mould spores at all in the jars.And don’t forget the lids. If you are not using lids, cover the jars with cellophane circles and elastic bands. Or use circles cut from cereal box inners and perhaps a pretty ribbon. A little gingham fabric looks fabulous. Anything that will keep the jam clean and dry will do the job.
- Once the jam is ready to set, stir in a generous knob of butter, this gets rid of any scum floating on the surface. Stir well. Leave to cool for about 10 minutes, stirring now and again
- Put your jars on a heatproof surface and carefully ladle in the jam. Be careful, splashes will burn you badly at this temperature. A jam funnel is helpful for this
- I usually put a very clean tea towel over the filled jars until they are just warm and only then put the lid on. The tea towel is to keep any mould spores in the air, off the surface of the jam.Others have recommended putting the lids on straight away and turning the jars upside down
Notes
Nutrition is per 100g, assuming 6 x 370g jar yield
Got a great recipe? How about submitting it to appear on Thrifty Lesley!
Got a great recipe? How about submitting it to appear on Thrifty Lesley!
Nutrition
Calories: 196kcal | Carbohydrates: 50g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 3mg | Potassium: 140mg | Sugar: 43g | Vitamin A: 100IU | Vitamin C: 79mg | Calcium: 25mg | Iron: 1mg
