Ripe just now, redcurrants are great to preserve for winter, given that they’re so nutrient rich and have immune boosting properties.
What a bumper year it’s been for the currants, both red and black. We’re having berried up green smoothies daily; there are lots in freezer which will extend the berry smoothie season and it’s looking to be a very abundant bramble year too. Last year we gathered quite a lot of those for the freezer as well as smoothie-ing them fresh. At least I thought we’d gathered a lot until I met a man in the woods with 3 huge bucket loads of brambles. He must have spent all day picking. Maybe for jam? I really want to try preserving in different ways this year so we can eat the home grown stuff in winter too. So we made strawberry jam as mentioned, and then moved onto redcurrant and rosemary jelly for savoury things.
Here’s the basic method for the Redcurrant and Rosemary Jelly. It makes a cloudy jelly. If you want a sparkling clear one, other, more time consuming, recipes will come up on a Google search. This pairing of flavours is amazing; the rosemary gives the jelly a slightly savoury edge, making it perfectly suited as an accompaniment to roast dinners. Also great in a sausage sandwich!
We picked 1.5 lbs/0.75kg of redcurrants and put them in a pan, stalks and all, with a few sprigs of rosemary. Then we added 1lb/500g of sugar, half a cup of water and the juice of half a lemon.
Method
Bring to the boil, turn down and simmer for half an hour, stirring quite frequently. Allow the mixture to cool a little, though not until the jelly sets, and squash it through a sieve into a bowl. This is the hard work phase of the recipe! Press and rub it with a spoon until you’re left with mainly stalks and seeds in the sieve. Pour into jars of your choice. Cool completely before sealing/adding lids. Yum. This amount filled two medium jam jars, and should keep in the cupboard for months (if not years).
Cooking on the stove this morning is Apple and Ginger Chutney from the Cranks recipe book with the apples gathered on a bike ride, heavily supplemented with ones from our trees and our own onions too 🙂 Adapted recipe on the sauces page.
Set in a castle, THE MERMAID AND THE BEAR features the Scottish witchcraft accusations and a love story.
FIREFLIES AND CHOCOLATE was inspired by the 18th century kidnapped children of Aberdeen.
Paperbacks and kindle:
I am jealous and envious!!
Of course in my own strange and twisted way I mean that as a complement 😀
no, no – you have courgettes!
commentluv obviously not noticing it’s on the post it’s linking to there!!
Very true. I got two courgettes and then nothing. Now suddenly I have three more. I see I’m going to have to watch those pesky courgettes closely otherwise I’ll have marrows.
No sign of any cucumbers though 🙁
marrow chutney meant to be nice 😀 we still have male only flowers on long stalks…
hmmm, wonder why? That seems to be the issue with my cucumber plants…all male. Just did a quick google search and one suggestion is to pinch off all the male flowers to encourage the ladies to grow and another suggests just waiting as once the males are there the females appear a few weeks later…off to consult one of my many gardening books.
Ha!! Went out to inspect the plants in the greenhouse and have found two cucumbers!! I see what the problem is…I didn’t label any of of my cucubits so I had my squashes and cucumbers mixed up. oops. This now means that my squashes are producing only male flowers and I have to say they are fairly going for it. 🙂
yes, I have read that the male flowers come first – I hope some of the grils show up before winter!! yay to the cukes!
oh my – early morning typing – girls, not grils 😳
I don’t think anyone can spell at 7.30am!
I’m sure the girls will show up. I have my fingers crossed that your courgettes and my squashes shall not stay bachelors for long!
I think it’s an hour out – it was 8.30. yes, we want nice ladies for our boys 😀
8.30?! Well, no excuse then! :p
😛
Hi Lucy. Love this Redcurrant and Rosemary Jelly recipe. Will try it tomorrow, and will comeback and tell you the results. Thanks for sharing.
I hope it works out well for you! We’ll be making it again soon too.