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Planting blackcurrants means planning for huge harvests right in the middle of summer. Every July we find ourselves completely overrun with blackcurrants, and we’re always struggling to find creative blackcurrant recipes.
Most often, we preserve the flavorful fruits in blackcurrant jam or syrup for winter pancakes. Last year, we made a blackcurrant mead that was out of this world, and we enjoyed a warmly spiced blackcurrant liqueur around the holidays.
Still, I want to plan ahead and do more this year. July is a hard time to get the creative juices flowing. It’s hot, and there’s so much to do in the garden (and at the lake…). I’m putting all my ideas in one place, and hopefully, it helps you all find a few blackcurrant recipes for your own kitchen.
Blackcurrant Preserves
Black currants are naturally high in pectin, which makes them a great choice for homemade jams and jellies. A basic recipe involves one part currants and an equal amount of sugar with a splash of lemon juice. Cook until a candy thermometer reads 220 degrees f so that the jam has candied a bit thickened enough to stand up.
- Raspberry and Blackcurrant Jam – Fab Food 4 All
- Simple Black Currant Jam – BBC Good Food
- Apple and Blackcurrant Jam – The Blackcurrant Foundation
- Easy Blackcurrant Curd – Baking Queen 74
Blackcurrant Breakfast Recipes
Berries and breakfast go hand in hand. While usually, we add blueberries to our oatmeal, blackcurrants add a tart kick and pack a lot of antioxidants for extra nutrition.
- Blackcurrant Jam Baked Oats – The Slimming Foodie
- Blackcurrant Crumble – Effortless Foodie
- Fresh Blackcurrant Muffins – Anula’s Kitchen
- Blackcurrant Scones – Vikalinka
- Blackcurrant and Cream Oatmeal – 15 Spatulas
- Blackcurrant and Chia Overnight Oats – Quite Good Food
Blackcurrant Main Courses
Though they are a fruit, blackcurrants are far more savory than the average berry. With hints of acid and deep red wine notes, they pair well with meats for main courses. Blackcurrants have a bit of wild, untamed flavor that compliments game meats perfectly. They’re especially good with duck, and I’m excited about trying them with Venison this year.
- Pork Medallions with Blackcurrant, Apple and Crispy Sage – The Blackcurrant Foundation
- Warm Venison Salad with Blackcurrant Dressing – The Blackcurrant Foundation
- Duck with Cassis and Blackcurrants – The Blackcurrant Foundation
- Blackcurrant Compote Glazed Ham – Vikalinka
Blackcurrant Drink Recipes
Blackcurrants naturally have a bit of astringency, paired with a full-bodied flavor, not unlike a good red wine. That works well in homemade drinks of all sorts, be it a hot blackcurrant tea or a summery blackcurrant mojito. Thus far, I’ve made cassis and mead with our blackcurrants, but the idea of muddling them into a cocktail has me hooked for this summer.
- Hot Blackcurrant and Orange Drink – Christina’s Cucina
- Blackcurrant Mojito – Little Sugar Snaps
- Blackcurrant Liqueur (Cassis) – Practical Self Reliance
- Blackcurrant Mead (Honey Wine) – Practical Self Reliance
Quick Blackcurrant Snack Recipes
Summertime is snacking time. It’s hot, and sometimes it’s hard to have the motivation to sit down to a full meal. Blackcurrant snack recipes are a great way to eat seasonally without investing too much time into preparation or sit-down meals when the garden’s calling.
- Blackcurrant, Pear and Apple Popsicles – The Blackcurrant Foundation
- Summer Fruit Popsicles with Blackcurrant – Farmersgirl Kitchen
- Blackcurrant and Coconut Post Workout Smoothie – Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary
- Blackcurrant Gelatin Cubes – Christina’s Cucina
Blackcurrant Dessert Recipes
Though blackcurrants can be a bit astringent, they pair well with sugar to make exceptionally flavorful desserts. Think of the full-bodied flavor of a red wine. I’ve made blackcurrant shortbread bars a number of times, and my mouth waters just thinking about them. This year I’m excited to try a blackcurrant swirl ice cream.
- Blackcurrant Shortbread Bars – Her Cup of Joy
- Blackcurrant Pavlova – The Blackcurrant Foundation
- Summer Berry Tart – Vikalinka
- Pistachio Thumbprint Cookies with Blackcurrant Jam – A Beautiful Plate
- Blackcurrant and Apple Steamed Pudding – Fuss Free Flavors
- Chocolate and Blackcurrant Torte – The Blackcurrant Foundation
- Mini Chocolate and Blackcurrant Cakes – Fuss Free Flavors
- Healthy Cheesecake with Cottage Cheese and Blackcurrant Jam – The Worktop
- Lime and Blackcurrant Cheesecake – The Blackcurrant Foundation
- Blackcurrant Cupcakes – Fuss Free Flavors
- Blackcurrant Ice Cream – The Blackcurrant Foundation
- Vegan Blackcurrant Ripple Ice Cream – Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary
Other Ways to Use Blackcurrants?
What have I missed? If you have a favorite blackcurrant recipe, please share it in the comments. I’m always looking for new creative ideas to use up this summer bounty.
My newest favorite thing to do with Black Currants is to first boil them to make juice! Then take the pulp, (blend it until smooth or not) and then freeze dry the pulp! Then break it up into chunks and vacuum seal it into pint jars. When ready to use, pour the contents into a blender to make powder. I use this powder to put into icing! I really dislike using food coloring for icing, so I have experimented with different fruit powders for different colors and delicious, unique flavors! Then I find edible flowers to compliment the color for decorations.
Oh, that’s such a smart way to use them! Freeze dried fruit powder is one of the best natural options for getting real color and flavor into icing without the artificial stuff, and blackcurrant would give such a pretty deep purple. Love the edible flower idea to go with it too. Thanks for sharing this!
We have about 30 black currant bushes here in Ontario Canada! We freeze a lot of them to make juice and jam throughout the year. Place the frozen berries in a large pot ( a large freezer ziploc size bag) cover the berries with water and bring to a boil so that the skins split. Strain berries and use the juice for drinking. Add sugar to taste and then dilute with water or sparkling water to taste.
Return the pulp to the pot and add equal amounts of sugar to pulp for jam. We are cutting back on the sugar, so 1/2 cup sugar to one of pulp. Bring to a boil and while stirring constantly, simmer boil for about 5 min. This will thicken it up a bit. Pour hot into jars and seal. Some people like to water bath them but they usually seal on their own if the jam is hot enough.
Thanks for sharing your method! Thirty bushes is a serious currant operation, and pulling juice first and then making jam from the pulp is a smart way to get two things out of one batch.
Black Currant Oatmeal Bars
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 cup oats
Zest of 1 lemon (or 5 drops lemon essential oil)
1 tsp vanilla
113g butter, cold and cubed
3/4 blackcurrant jam or any other jam
Oven 350 d. F. greased and lined 8×8 square pan
combine sugar, flour, baking soda and zest into a large bowl, toss to combine
Add vanilla.
add in the cubed butter and either using a pastry blender or your hands, rub butter until you have what looks like coarse breadcrumbs.
Place 2 cups of mixture into the bottom of your greased pan and lightly press down until level.
Spread jam over base and sprinkle the remaining crumbs over jam.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes until lightly browned and jam is bubbling.
Let cool for an hour before trying to take them out. They firm up as they cool!
Oh my goodness, I can’t believe I never thought to use blackcurrants in these ways before! The fruit smoothie recipe sounds delicious and I can’t wait to try it out. I also love the idea of using blackcurrants in homemade beauty products – I’ll have to give it a try. Thanks so much for sharing these creative ideas!
You’re welcome. So glad you enjoyed the post.
We’re looking at a bumper crop this year so this is a wonderful source of ideas, thank you! I’ve found that Mint pairs well with both cherries and with blackcurrants – for jams and canned (bottled) fruit. I live in France and adore tarte au citron, this year I’m going to substitute blackcurrants and see if it works! Once again, thank you for this great article
That sounds lovely. Thanks so much for sharing. Let us know how you like the recipes.
This is my first year growing black currants. I picked about 2 cups. I’m trying to decide what to make with them. I also have an elderberry bush. Noticing a bird perched on the fence near my bushes, I checked them and the birds preferred the elderberries over the currants. Tulle from the fabric department worked quite well to keep the feathered foragers away. I would still see that bird stopping to check on the foraging situation. My tulle worked wonders and the remainder are mine. I did leave a few for them to glean on the bush as well as those that fell while picking.
Thank yo u. You write that if ”unopened”; should it be refrigerated when opened?
I don’t think that it’s necessary to refrigerate it. You should keep it in a cool location and try to use it within a couple of months.
How long can Creme de Cassis be stored? Is there a point where the shelf life expires? Thank you.
You should be able to store it unopened in a cool, dark place for many years.
O.M.G, I think I love you! Having made bucket-loads of ice cream, crumbles, sorbet and ‘Ribena’ I was feeling a bit desperate about what to do with the rest of our crop. Then I found this post. You are an angel 😇 !! Thank you so much for putting this together. I am now definitely going to make gin, cassis and some of the other fab ideas.
Wonderful, so glad I could help!
It is better to grow blackcurrants than buy in market. It is very easy to grow it – Just Plant under apples and pears. In the garden there are always not enough places, so they grow beautifully under fruit trees.
Water blackcurrants often. It has roots close to the surface of the earth, so in hot weather the plants suffer greatly from drought. And some gardeners advise watering it almost every day. This, of course, is overkill. Moreover, the amount of watering depends on the weather.
I love blackcurrants, So delicious and so intensely flavoured, and as this post show so adaptable!
Wow, loving all these blackcurrant recipes, never realised quite how versatile they are! Thanks for including my jam:-)
I’d love to grow my own black currants, but my garden isn’t big enough. Instead I pick them from a local pick your own farm usually as here in England you never see them in the supermarkets. Now I have lots of new recipes to try with them! Thanks very much for including my curd!
Black currants NEED to become popular in the US because they’re just soooo good! Not just in flavor, but one of the most nutritious berries you can eat! LOVE THEM! Thanks for including my recipes!