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Red Currant Jelly

Source of Recipe

From "Artisanal Preserves" by Madelaine Bullwinkel


Recipe Introduction

"This is the quintessential jelly, with its exquisitely tart flavor, bright ruby color, and shimmering jell. It flatters rich breads and muffins as a preserve and makes a great poaching medium and sauce for peaches, pears, and apples."

List of Ingredients

â—¦ 4 pounds red currants
â—¦ Sugar


Recipe

Pick over and rinse the currants. Combine them with water in a heavy, nonreactive 5-quart saucepan. Cover and bring to a simmer. Cook, uncovered, slowly for 10 minutes, stirring and crushing the berries against the side of the pan. Strain the mixture through a cheesecloth-lined sieve for 2 hours.

Measure the currant juice, then place it in a 4-quart saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir in an equal volume of sugar ½ cup at a time, allowing the liquid to return to a boil each time before adding more. Bring liquid to jell temperature, which is 8 degrees above the boiling temperature measured on your thermometer. This will take up to 10 minutes. Maintain the boil for a full minute after reaching the jell.

Off heat, skim the jelly and ladle into hot, sterilized jelly jars to within ¼ inch of the lips. Wipe the rims clean, attach new lids, and screw caps on tightly. Invert jars briefly to vacuum seal, or process in a boiling water bath, submerged by 1 inch, for 10 minutes.

Makes 5 ¼ cups




• Sweet and Hot Currant Jelly:

â—¦ 2 ½ cups red currant juice
â—¦ 1 tablespoon jalapeño chile, seeds removed, diced
â—¦ 2 ½ cups sugar

Combine the currant juice with chile pepper pieces in the bowl of a food processor or blender. Pulse for 15 seconds to fragment and infuse the juice with the chile oils. Proceed to make jelly as described above.

Makes 3 cups