I've just discovered most of my blackcurrants are ripe already!!!
Now what can I do with them?
(1) Does anybody have a recipe for 'ribena'?
(2) Can I freeze them to make into jelly later on, because I really fancy doing a mixed berry jelly and of course nothing else is ripe yet (I thought of making it with blackcurrants, redcurrants, elderberry and blackberry).
I was just in the garden and noticed my Blackcurrants are doing well but far from ripe and wondering if I could pick any more rhubarb yet!
Being further south makes a lot of difference doesn't it.
I've not made cordial but Blackcurrants freeze really well for use in jam, pies or even with backberries and raspberries in summer pudding.
I also add some to my hedgerow jelly which is principally crab apples and blackberries with a bit of this and a bit of that when there's only a little of something.
If you don't mind them in a solid lump, then just put them in bags or boxes and freeze - good idea to put a set amount, say 1 lb/500g in each pack. I prefer 'freeflow' so I just pick them over (don't want any frozen beetles) spread them out on a baking tray and freeze till hard, then bag them up and return to the freezer
As well as Blackcurant jelly, I like to cook some with sugar and seive to make a sauce for iced cream or yogurt - freeze the sauce in ice cube trays then you can take out a few at a time.
Terri x
“I'd rather be a little weird than all boring.”
― Rebecca McKinsey
Couldn't be bothered with jelly - jam is just as nice, and goes very well with camembert or Brie... Much nicer than the usual whatsit - damn, mind's gone blank just now...
Last edited by ina on Sat Jun 14, 2008 6:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
Ina
I'm a size 10, really; I wear a 20 for comfort. (Gina Yashere)
We make pancake/waffle syrup out of most of our harvest each summer; great stuff... just rinse, put in pot and slowly heat till juices start to flow out and add sugar to taste. Strain when it's cool, and then just into jars into the fridge. You could reheat to almost boiling and do the overflow method of bottling, but we have the fridge space for it in our dairy fridge.
ina wrote:Couldn't be bothered with jelly - jam is just as nice, and oges very well with camembert or Brie... Much nicer than the usual whatsit - damn, mind's gone blank just now...
Pickle? I have no idea what you are trying to say!
Syrup sounds nice, now there's a thought to go with ice cream and barbecued banana....
Edited to say: Gooseberry sauce? Isn't that what is served with warm brie/camembert?
ina wrote:Couldn't be bothered with jelly - jam is just as nice, and oges very well with camembert or Brie... Much nicer than the usual whatsit - damn, mind's gone blank just now...
Pickle? I have no idea what you are trying to say!
Cranberries! Sorry - blame it on old age...
But I always have it with either redcurrant or black currant jam. Not jelly - what a waste of perfectly good fruit jelly is!
Oh, and they serve gooseberry sauce with mackerel here... And Pickles only go with fairly strong cheese - definitely not Brie or camembert.
Ina
I'm a size 10, really; I wear a 20 for comfort. (Gina Yashere)
Jelly is good for those fruits with irritating little pips!
Actually my blackcurrant variety is edible straight off the bush - although I can't say I'd want to sit and eat a bowl of them.
I will try making some syrup tomorrow when rain is forecast. I don't have tons of fruit because this is only their 2nd year. My redcurrants (4th year) are absolutely loaded though!!!
Millymollymandy wrote:Jelly is good for those fruits with irritating little pips!
I'm sure they are "good for you" - help to keep you regular etc!
It's just sheer laziness on my side. I have made jelly in the past; the nicest I ever made was strawberry jelly with tiny strips of orange peel in it; I had a glut of very overripe strawberries that year, with the juice more or less running out of the basket without any interference of mine.
Ina
I'm a size 10, really; I wear a 20 for comfort. (Gina Yashere)
hey, i know i'm a bit late for this year but this is my cordial 'ribena' recipe, it's not all exact measurements i'm afraid coz it's one of those 'handed down over the years' types :
weigh your blackcurrants and pop them in a saucepan with about half a pint of water for every lb of fruit, heat on the stove till they break down (i give them a squish with the back of a wooden spoon or a potato masher ) leave to cool and then strain it through a jelly bag, or muslin, or a clean old cotton tea towel that you don't mind having a huge ol' purple splodge on it. (lol) leave it to drip through of it's own accord over night is the official grandmother advice but being inpatient i'm always there giving it a squeeze to make it go through faster, this apparently makes it cloudy but it's never really bothered me. . .
when you've got all your lovely juice out pop it back on the stove and add 1lb of sugar for every pint of juice, heat it to disolve the sugar but try not to boil it or you'll have a bottle full of jelly! when it's all disolved it's ready to bottle. i normally disinfect my bottles the same way i do for wine and seal them down, they probably would last quite a while like this but i've never kept any long enough to tell. it keeps for up to a month once the bottle is open usually, my mum keeps hers in the fridge to be sure, apparently it keeps longer if you freeze it in ice cube trays and then you use one or two cubes per glass but i havn't tried this myself.
basically half a pint of water to a lb of fruit, then a lb of sugar to a pint of juice
we use this recipe to make cordial out of most soft fruits (white and red currants, loganberrys, raspberrys) altho some need a squirt of lemon juice to balance out the sweetness, for example with raspberrys (the sugar stays the same to preserve, you could almost certainly use less sugar but you'd have to use it up more quickly)
enjoy!
jo
ps. if it does turn to jelly and set in the bottle pop the bottle in a sink of hot water to sofen it enough to get out, and then either make it up with hot water or pop it back in the pan, boil it a bit more and then put it in jars to use as jelly!
Thanks Ninjas - I didn't get enough blackcurrants to make cordial from but maybe next year!
I did make the mostly redcurrant mixed fruit jelly that I mentioned above, and still have a small amount of blackcurrants left in the freezer. I made all my jelly from frozen fruit so if I want to make some more I've still got lots of fruit left to do so! I haven't actually eaten any of it myself (I hardly ever eat jam!) but I've given 3 jars away so far.
I've just bought a blackcurrant shrub through the post, and I'm trying to determine the best place to plant it. We have hot summers to 34°C and winters that barely reach freezing.
Would you recommend full sunlight or a shady location?
By 'barely reaching freezing' do you mean it is colder than that or mostly warmer than that?
I have just assumed that currant bushes are planted in full sun, but maybe it would be an idea to google to find out for sure? I know redcurrants survive very cold winters and hot summers no probs!
Most of the UK websites have nothing to say about shade, but most Japanese websites (where blackcurrants are called "cassis") say half-shade to shady cool conditions.
I imagine our conditions are more similar to the south of France rather than the UK, so if you have 'em in bright sunshine in cassis country, I won't go against that.
I have no idea what you are trying to say! 
And Pickles only go with fairly strong cheese - definitely not Brie or camembert.
(thanks)
